‘How Many Beers to Butte?’ May Be History

Some Montana motorists, the joke goes, measure distances driven by how many beers they can drink along the way. But the long-cherished right to have a cold one behind the wheel appears about to end.

State lawmakers passed an open-container ban Friday that makes Montana one of the last states to outlaw drinking while driving.

The Montana House approved the bill 76-21 and sent it to Gov. Brian Schweitzer, who had said he would sign it. It would take effect Oct. 1.

The delay is aimed at letting Montanans get used to the prohibition, which has been in effect only in cities and towns, not on the open highway.

The Montana move would mean Mississippi alone would lack a state law against open containers, though many cities and counties there prohibited open containers locally.

Although Montana had stood to lose $5 million a year in federal highway funds if it failed to pass the law, the debate focused on balancing safety and personal freedom.

Montana has the highest rate of alcohol-related deaths, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says.

“This is one of those laws that will start the cultural change that we need on the highways of Montana,” said Lt. Col. Mike Tooley, deputy chief of the Montana Highway Patrol. “We hope that just the existence of the law will make a difference.”

University of Montana sociologist Jim Burfeind said the state’s holdout status was understandable, given the long, lonely drives often required when 927,000 people live in a state the size of New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio combined.

“We think we’re a very different place than other places and that we don’t have to run by the rules that other people have to in more congested areas,” Burfeind said.

To muster enough support for the bill, supporters accepted what some considered weak penalties for violations. A driver caught with an open container would face a $100 fine, and the offense would not show up on a person’s driving record.