BILLINGS — A recent crash into the Softies' storage shed along 24th Street West is raising renewed concerns about reckless driving and speeding in the area.
According to the Billings Police Department, a juvenile driver lost control of her vehicle on Feb. 20 around 8 p.m. and swerved to avoid another vehicle before colliding with the shed.
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“At the last minute, (she) basically just veered to avoid hitting a car," said Lt. Samantha Puckett on Thursday morning. "She went into the parking lot and struck the Softies shed."
Puckett said that reckless driving was the cause of the crash. No serious injuries were reported, but the incident left visible damage to the popular seasonal business's storage unit.
Softies ownership issued a statement to MTN News expressing concern ahead of the spring opening.
“We feel there is a huge racing problem which is pretty scary,” the owners said. “With all the people outside and the kids, I am always scared someone is going to lose control and end up hurting someone in our lot.”
While police say racing was not a factor in this particular crash, they acknowledge that speeding and unauthorized car meets are ongoing issues in Billings, and many happen on 24th.
“It’s unfortunately pretty common for us to get those reports, either someone calling into dispatch or people posting it on social media, so we do see it a lot more,” Puckett said. "They're driving too fast, wasn't paying attention, distracted driving on the cell phone or something like that."
Puckett said that the speeding problem persists across Billings and that it's challenging for officers to cover every part of the city all the time.
"Our officers are out there trying to do as much traffic as they can, but unfortunately, with the size of our department, the size of our city, we can't be everywhere," Puckett said.
Police Chief Rich St. John said the reckless driving has gotten out of control.
"They race, and they drive exceptionally fast," St. John said. "You have people that are going exceptionally fast, unsafe, creating a lot of noise and then we have unauthorized car meets and then bad behavior that takes place."
St. John said that reckless driving has become a larger focus for his department.
"It's just not a good thing, and we're trying to combat that with some enforcement," St. John said.
That enforcement comes in the form of a proposed amendment to a city ordinance addressing vehicle noise. The Billings City Council is set to discuss the measure on March 23. If approved, the amendment would give officers more authority to crack down on loud cars, which St. John expects to be the case starting this summer.
“It gives the officers basically subjective authority to say, ‘That’s too loud. That is unreasonable,’” St. John explained. “I don’t want to be the fun police, but you need to be respectful for the other drivers.”
