An Open Letter To Those Who Drive in Billings

I'm here to help during the vacation driving season. This is a sign posted right in front of my house, at the corner of my driveway.  This is a main street in Billings.  I want to offer this public service to help those who don't understand how to read this.  I know that a bunch of people don't see it because they are too busy texting while driving (trust me on that, I see it every day). If we work together, we can get a grip on this long misunderstood language.

• "Speed"-  That is how fast a moving vehicle drives on said road.
• "Limit"- That is a restriction on how fast you can go.
• "35"- That is a number on the dashboard of your vehicle.  It has a little needle that shows numbers from 0-120 MPH.  That stands for "Miles Per Hour." In this instance, 35 is the number you want your needle to be on. You will also see some other numbers labeled KPH.  Those red numbers are for Kilometers, which is for driving outside of the country, like in California.

When you add the three definitions together, it comes out to "a speed limit of 35 mph."  The same goes for the interstate, although for some reason we have also adopted the thought of, "Well, the speed limit is 80 but the highway patrol won't pull me over if I go 5 miles over the limit."

My kids use to give me a hard time that I drive like an old man. I told them, going over the speed limit really doesn't get me there any faster in the long run and it's safer.  I didn't tell them I was driving 33 MPH.