BOZEMAN — If you were driving around Bozeman on Wednesday, you probably saw a lot of accidents or slide-offs. You also could have seen the video of a driver fishtailing down Huffine Lane, which has caused a stir on Facebook. It raises the question: how reckless do folks get when the roads get bad?
I spoke with two drivers who say they endured the roads Wednesday. For Ayden, Sage, and most folks around town? They agree, road conditions were less than ideal.
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“It was not great. Pretty white out. I saw several people slide off the road,” says Ayden.
“Yeah, I was driving on East Valley Center, and you couldn’t even really see the road,” agrees Sage.
While most people tried to stay on the road safely, others? Not so much.
I mentioned to Ayden the viral video of someone fishtailing down Huffine. He told me, “Yeah, I saw that. It’s not smart, you could cause accidents. Like they said in the Facebook post, that somebody slid off the road behind them because they almost got hit by them."
So I was curious, how often do Bozeman Police see this kind of driving in dangerous, snowy conditions?
“Fortunately, not very often,” says Lieutenant Ben King. “As a law enforcement officer, if I were to see somebody doing that in my capacity, I would absolutely stop them. And we would, at the very least, have a conversation about how unsafe that is."
King was on duty Wednesday during the storm. He tells me on top of reckless driving, there were a number of accidents.
“I know we had about 13 before we instituted what we call our Limited Crash Response Protocol,” says King.
According to the Bozeman Police Facebook page, that protocol went into effect around 2 p.m. Wednesday. King tells me there were many more accidents to follow. This protocol goes into effect when the number of accidents exceeds the number of officers available. But I wanted to know, who do officers respond to first in these situations?
“Our protocol includes an automatic response for crashes with disabling damage to a vehicle, injury, or the report of a DUI driver,” King explains.
Some folks may have been frustrated Wednesday if they didn't receive help from police. To this? King hopes drivers can keep in mind, resources are limited. Which means if you were frustrated about the fishtailing driver and the fact they didn’t get pulled over?
“I can completely understand frustration. Especially if he went as reported all the way down Huffine. Our officers were simply busy; unfortunately, there were none available. Because I would expect any of our officers to stop that vehicle.” says King.
For Ayden and Sage, they say here in Montana, people will play around with their cars in the snow regardless. So, if you’re going to do it?
“Go on the back roads up to Hyalite. Stuff like that where there's not as much traffic or people,” Sage suggests.
“Or find an empty parking lot. No cars in it. That’s safer than anything else,” Ayden adds.
If you have any information about the fishtailing car in the Facebook video, you’re asked to call Bozeman Police at their non-emergency number, (406) 582-2000.
