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Given ticket...but no speed limit signs

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coffeebydesign

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Virginia

I KNOW ITS A LITTLE LONG, BUT PLEASE READ!!!!

I live in a relatively new neighborhood, and most of the roads are less than two years old or so. I was driving the other day on a road that has no speed limit signs, since it is a rather new road when a county cop, driving towards me, made a u-turn and pulled me over. He told me that he had pulled me over for speeding, but, was only going to give me a ticket for "disobeying a highway sign". Well, that was nice of him, however, there are NO speed limit signs. After I told him that, he said to me, "If there are no speed limit signs on this road, then I will throw the ticket out." Well, I decided to take a video camera and record the entire road, showing that there are NO speed limit signs on the road anywhere. The nearest sign is on a road perpendicular to the road I was driving on, and can only be seen heading the other direction.

Now here is the issue though. I was driving my girlfriends car, which is registered in Maryland, and I was unaware that she did not have her registration current. So the officer gave me a ticket for the registration, and on top of that, it turns out that my license was suspended(it had been suspended earlier in the year apparently, because I had payed a ticket late, and apparently they were making me pay an $85 reinstatement fee which I was unaware of). So he took my license, and gave me 3 tickets: 1) disobeying a highway sign, 2) no valid registration, 3) driving on a suspended license

After a convesation with a friend of mine who is a New Jersey State Trooper, he told me that if someone is NOT guilty of the first offense(in my case that is, disobeying a highway sign), that the person can NOT be found guilty for any other charges after that. I was wondering if anyone could provide me with some much needed advice as to whether or not this is the same in Virginia and what I should plea when I go to court. All input is greatly appreciated!!!!!!! Thanks
 


racer72

Senior Member
Of course you are aware that in Virginia, roads that do not have speed limit signs the designated speed limit on residential streets is 25 mph.

§ 46.2-874. Maximum speed limit in business and residence districts.

The maximum speed shall be 25 miles per hour on highways in business or residence districts, except on interstate or other limited access highways with divided roadways or nonlimited access highways having four or more lanes and all state primary highways. The speed limit on all nonlimited access highways having four or more lanes and all state primary highways shall remain as indicated by signs posted prior to July 1, 2005, unless changed as provided by law.
 

coffeebydesign

Junior Member
The office stated that the speed limit was....

35 mph. That is the confusing part. What determines that a speed limit is 25 or 35 or 45 mph. Especially 35 or 45 mph. Also, the fact that the cop literally said that if there were no posted signs, then he would throw the ticket out**************is that not enough to show the video that there were no posted signs and that is what the office said? Thanks for your reply so far. Your information is greatly appreciated and I have noted this in my case notebook.
 

cepe10

Member
35 mph. That is the confusing part. What determines that a speed limit is 25 or 35 or 45 mph. Especially 35 or 45 mph. Also, the fact that the cop literally said that if there were no posted signs, then he would throw the ticket out**************is that not enough to show the video that there were no posted signs and that is what the office said? Thanks for your reply so far. Your information is greatly appreciated and I have noted this in my case notebook.
It is determined by a speed study and the 85% speed. the manual on uniform traffic devices (MUTCD) goes into this in the speed limit signs section...
 

coffeebydesign

Junior Member
Court Went Well

Just thought I would follow up on the much appreciated replies that I received. After reading what everyone had written, I was a little timid. I had my court date on 2/1 and everything went well. I took my laptop with the video of the road, showing that there were no speed limit signs, although, I didn't end up having to show the video. I plead not guilty to the charge of disobeying a highway sign, which was the first charge that was discussed. The judge asked the officer to read his description of what happened, and so he began explaining what happened. He mentioned in his description that I had claimed there were no speed limit signs, and so then the judge asked the officer if there were in fact no signs. At this point the officer stated that he had driven down the road, after giving me the tickets, to see if there were in fact no speed limit signs. He discovered that there was no signson the road for the direction I was heading, but only in the direction he was driving. So, I was found not guilty of that charge and at that point, the judge dismissed all of the charges (driving on suspended license, no valid registration displayed, and disobeying a highway sign), and all I had to pay was the court costs. So, in the end, all went well and I have to say I was rather pleased with the judge's ruling. Good luck to everyone else!
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
Congratulations -- well done!
Well done?
You do realize that the entire reason he won his case is because the cop cut him a break. Had he been charged with exceeding the speed limit (as he was stopped for), he would have been found guilty.
 
Well done because it kept $$$ out of the insurance companies pockets.

He would have paid a $150 fine to the state and $3,000 to the insurance company. over 3 yrs.

Never, ever plead guilty to a traffic ticket.
 

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