Weather in Billings took a turn to freezing temperatures fast , but that didn't stop people from their daily commute.
According to law enforcement, Monday's roadways were among the worst people have seen in Billings.
According to a Montana Highway Patrol trooper, between 7 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday, troopers received 512 calls for service, more than double the amount of calls they received the previous Monday.
Yesterday, between the hours of 7:00 am and 4:30 pm, @MTHwyPatrol received 512 calls for service.
Busy day, considering last Monday, there were 235 calls for service in the same time frame. #SnowDay #mtwx
— Trooper N. Pesola (@TrooperPesola) October 29, 2019
Billings Police Lt. Brandon Wooley said drivers have to drive to the conditions.
"Just because the speed limit says 35 or 25 miles per hour, doesn't mean you should be driving (that fast) if the road conditions persist for not only icy road, but all road conditions like rain or foggy weather," Wooley said.
He added to abide by these rules, especially when approaching an intersection. Wooley said it could help to pay attention to the pedestrian signs at intersections as well.
" When you see that type of behavior when people are getting to that point where they are trying to decide on whether or not they want to stop or go through because they don't think they have enough time, that is clue number for us that you are going too fast. You need to be able to slow down," Wooley said.
"The other thing is start to anticipate that, start slowing earlier even though you have the green," he continued. "One of the things that you can pay attention to is if the intersection has a hand or a walk signal, if it is on the red or orange hand, the light is likely going to be changing here pretty quickly. So you can see if it is on a walk signal then that is probably going to stay green for a while and there is usually for the pedestrians a solid hand or a flashing hand and that would indicate that there is going to be an imminent yellow switching to a red because they are trying to warn pedestrian traffic that the light is going to change. So pay attention to that, the pedestrian signal and that will kind of give you an idea as to when that light is going to be changing that will help you anticipate we are moving to a yellow soon so i should start decreasing my speed much before the intersection."
