Montana Drivers Would Freak Out if this ‘Green’ Program Came Here

A controversial clean-air initiative recently enacted in some areas of London would never fly in Montana. Not in our lifetime, anyway. I'm not sure how much you follow international news stories, but this one caught my eye a couple of weeks ago, and I've been thinking about it ever since. Montanans would absolutely lose our minds if they tried to enact a similar measure in the Treasure State.

Big brother wants to watch.

Neighborhoods in London are now part of what they call Ultra Low Emission Zones. Basically, they've installed hundreds of cameras on streets to monitor what kind of vehicles are on the road.

If you're caught driving a car, truck, or motorcycle that is not on the low-emissions vehicle list, you get a ticket in the mail for $16. They call it a surcharge, but let's call a spade a spade... it's a fine.

Most Londoners seem to hate the program.

Americans largely think of residents in the United Kingdom as civil, polite, and compliant, but that's not the case when it comes to the ULEZ zones. Citizens appear to HATE the cameras and are destroying them as fast as the city can replace them. Reuters reported,

London's Metropolitan Police said it had recorded hundreds of crimes relating to ULEZ cameras, with 164 being stolen and 185 reports of cables being damaged as of Aug. 1.

CBS News says the anti-camera ULEZ vigilantes are known as 'Blade Runners', a reference to the dystopian film.

I don't think we'll have to worry about this in Montana.

Perhaps they'll test these Ultra Low Emission Zones somewhere in the US. Maybe in congested urban areas in liberal-leaning cities such as San Francisco or New York. I'm all about caring for our environment and whatnot, but in Montana, we cherish our personal freedoms.

If - and that's huge if - our state or city officials ever tried enacting a ULEZ program like London, it would never pass. And if it did, Montana vigilantes would certainly destroy the cameras, probably more efficiently than the Brits.