Montana’s DUI leniency meets 4-way stop

HELENA, Mont. | Montana has long had a reputation as a place where you could crack open a beer while driving down the interstate just about as fast as you liked.

Until 2005, when the state came under heavy duress from the federal government, it was legal to drink and drive in many places. A few years before that, there wasn’t even a speed limit on major highways and in rural areas.

But spurred by the high-profile death of a highway patrolman at the hands of an intoxicated driver, Montana’s Old West drinking-and-driving culture is retreating. Judges are rejecting lenient plea deals, and law enforcement leaders are exploring different ways of keeping track of repeat offenders.

Even the legislature, which just a few years ago struggled mightily to ban open containers of booze in cars, is beginning to promise tough new laws. This comes after years of virtually ignoring the state’s ranking at or near the top of per capita drunken-driving deaths.

Montana has long been tolerant of drivers who drink.

Some small-town bars still offer cocktails in a to-go cup. Repeat driving-under-the-influence offenders are shuttled in and out of the system before they have a chance to sober up.

Montana has many isolated roads and almost no public transportation. A saloon-era attitude toward drinking, coupled with Montana’s libertarian streak, which eschews tough law enforcement or even letting local police set up roadside safety checks, combine for a deadly scenario, experts say.

“There is significant anti-government sentiment, which spills over into impaired driving enforcement,” said Mothers Against Drunk Driving’s Rebecca Sturdevant. “Rather than praising public safety officers for keeping our highways safe, I have heard legislators berate them for bothering drivers.”

Yet almost no one doubts the state is coming to grips with its drinking-and-driving issues.

A statewide conversation started last year after the death of Montana Highway Patrol trooper Michael Haynes - killed in a head-on crash after a bartender had served the other driver , who also died in the collision, 13 drinks over 3 1/2 hours. The judge in that case sent a message by throwing out a plea deal against the bartender in favor of mandatory jail time.

Headlines in the state have since been full of repeat offenders being charged with a ninth or even 10th DUI, keeping editorial pages abuzz with demands for a solution.

“Obviously, it’s very exciting to see the change. It is a huge part of the culture here, drunk driving, binge drinking and underage drinking,” said Tawny Haynes, trooper Haynes‘ widow. “Alcohol just seems to be way of life around here, a rite of passage. I have nothing against alcohol; you just have to be responsible.”

Mrs. Haynes, who said her youngest son only knows his dad as the picture on the wall, said she feels compelled to honor her husband - who led all troopers in DUI arrests before being killed - by giving a face to the problem.

“I think the people of Montana are really ready for this change that seems to be happening,” she said.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that Montana led all states in 2008 in alcohol-related traffic fatalities per miles traveled. Montana had 229 that year in a state with just 1 million residents - compared to Rhode Island, which has about the same population but had 65 such deaths.

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