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Dear readers, the Montana Speed Limit paradox is made up by an advocacy group with a barrow to push. Remember folks, trust but always verify. To quote from http

Dear readers, the Montana Speed Limit paradox is made up by an advocacy group with a barrow to push. Remember folks, trust but always verify. To quote from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Speed_limit#Montana http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Speed_limit#Montana commenting on http://www.hwysafety.com/hwy_montana_2001.htm http://www.hwysafety.com/hwy_montana_2001.htm The source looks somewhat unreliable and biased. I looked up FARS data for 1998,1999,2000 for number of fatal-crashes in Montana (state), for (nhtsa)Roadway Functional Classification=Principal Arterial - Interstate and get the following figures for crashes by month: 1998-4,0,2,4,5,1,5,4,0,0,3,2,30 1999-2,2,4,2,1,0,2,9,4,2,1,5,34 2000-2,1,4,5,1,5,3,3,3,1,4,4,36 However the "study" has 1998-4,0,2,4,5,1,5,4,0,1,3,2,31 1999-2,2,4,2,1,0,2,7,4,1,1,4,30 2000-4,2,8,5,2,7,7,3,4,1,6,7,56 I've removed the section, it's obviously made up numbers for 2000 for interstates to suit an argument, nowhere near fact. There is a reason for the use of reliable sources in Wikipedia and this is a case in point. Alex Sims (talk) 10:13, 25 January 2011 (UTC) See what someone with an authoritative sounding domain name can do!

cheald 12y ago
I was looking for government numbers for those years, but didn't have much luck. Thanks for the FARS keyword - that looks like it should have the datasets I need! I'm going grab and parse them and see if there's an actual difference in the data. I somewhat doubt the data was made up, but it's possible that the roadway classifications were chosen in such a way that the datasets supported the point.
- deleted 12y ago
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- softgrow 12y ago
  No I think the so called paradox was made up, To verify: http://www.nhtsa.gov/FARS Select tab "Run a Query Using the FARS Web-Based Encyclopaedia" "Query Fars DATA" which takes you to http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov//QueryTool/QuerySection/SelectYear.aspx For each year 1998,1999,2000 Select Query Year, e.g. 2000, then Submit In the top section Tick “Roadway Function Class” and “Month”, then Submit Select State: Montanta, and RFC Roadway Function Class “Rural-Principal Arterial-Interstate” Select Univariate Tabulation Select Variable - Crash Month and “Show Zeros” Yes Output 1998-4,0,2,4,5,1,5,4,0,0,3,2,30 1999-1,1,3,2,1,0,2,9,4,2,1,4,30 2000-2,1,3,5,1,5,3,3,3,1,4,4,35 Then lose your doubts.

cheald 12y ago

I was looking for government numbers for those years, but didn't have much luck. Thanks for the FARS keyword - that looks like it should have the datasets I need! I'm going grab and parse them and see if there's an actual difference in the data. I somewhat doubt the data was made up, but it's possible that the roadway classifications were chosen in such a way that the datasets supported the point.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
softgrow 12y ago
No I think the so called paradox was made up, To verify: http://www.nhtsa.gov/FARS Select tab "Run a Query Using the FARS Web-Based Encyclopaedia" "Query Fars DATA" which takes you to http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov//QueryTool/QuerySection/SelectYear.aspx For each year 1998,1999,2000 Select Query Year, e.g. 2000, then Submit In the top section Tick “Roadway Function Class” and “Month”, then Submit Select State: Montanta, and RFC Roadway Function Class “Rural-Principal Arterial-Interstate” Select Univariate Tabulation Select Variable - Crash Month and “Show Zeros” Yes Output 1998-4,0,2,4,5,1,5,4,0,0,3,2,30 1999-1,1,3,2,1,0,2,9,4,2,1,4,30 2000-2,1,3,5,1,5,3,3,3,1,4,4,35 Then lose your doubts.