Fighting a speeding ticket

The basis for this defense is the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices, which regulates traffic issues over the entire country.

The manual is long and typically uninteresting, but there is a section on street surveys that you can use for your benefit. This section says that every five years, an engineer must supervise a speed survey on each section of road to determine the speed limit.

If the speed survey was not done, or is older than five years, or did not include an engineer, this survey doesn’t count. Without the official street survey of the section of road where you were stopped, the police are not allowed to ticket you there.

If you can prove that the street survey for the street in question doesn’t exist or wasn’t done correctly, then your ticket should be considered invalid! That sounds like a worthy goal.

To get a copy of the speed survey, look up your local Department of Transportation. The speed surveys are public information, so they will have to give you a copy if you ask.

If someone tells you that there is no street survey for the section of road that you have requested, ask to get a written statement with their name, position, and date on official Department of Transportation letterhead. You will take that to court with you.

If you do get a copy of the street survey, look carefully for problems with it. Was it done on a different section of the road than where you were pulled over? Was there no engineer present? Is it older than five years?

If you find a discrepancy, take the street survey to court with you and use it as backup. You know what to do. Ask the police officer general questions about the Manual and the requirements for street surveys. Then present the evidence and ask the judge to throw out the ticket!

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California residents a special case law
'The PEOPLE, Plaintiff v. Wendy EARNEST'.
40 Cal.Rptr.2d 304
33 Cal.App.4th Supp. 18
The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent,
v.
Wendy EARNEST, Defendant and Appellant.
The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent,
v.
Robert PERLMAN, Defendant and Appellant.
Cr. A. Nos. 9202, 9203.
Appellate Department, Superior Court, Orange County, California.
Feb. 14, 1995.

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Does the fact that it's California and not Washington have any bearing or negative impact on my defense?

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I already have a written statement from the Senior Traffic Engineer for the City stating that the road where I was cited has not been surveyed in the last 5 years.

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JIMinCA said:

I don't know Washington law

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ashworth102680 said:

Hmm. So was that book I bought a sack of lies? They specifically listed that it was a rule in all fifty states. Maybe I'm missing something

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Maestro64 said:

First case laws from any state can be used it is done all the time, but it comes with a up hill battle because you now have to convince the judge the case law from another state is valid for him to consider in your case. Case and point, all states tend to reference a Kentucky case where it was decided that the Officer operating a radar unit does not need to know how it works in order to operate and measure your speed. They said the officer does not have to be an "expert." For your reference (HONEYCUTT, Appellant, v. COMMONWEALTH of Kentucky)

With that said, the better approach would be to research the laws and case laws in Washington to see what has already been established. Case laws in Washington will carry more weight and state rules and laws carry even more weight. You would have to find where WA has adopted the MUTCD and they clearly call out engineering surveys are required to set PSL and over what time period. If this does not exist then using other state case laws may help in a appeal if the judge choose to ignore it.

Not too many states have Case laws on the use of engineering surveys to justify the PSL. CA being one of them. Most states rely on Statutory PSL laws, those are speed limits which they define ahead of time base on certain criteria, like 25 for residential 55 on divide highways and 65 for freeways outside urban areas and so on. They may even state any other speed limit that is not statutory must be justified by a engineering survey.

So unless the state clearly calls our that engineering surveys must be use, fighting a ticket on this merit alone is hard and usually requires bringing in experts on the subject and requires an appeal to higher courts, since the lower courts have no clue about this subject.

Oh, courts tend to plead these tickets away since they do not want case law like CA has, no state or local government wants to spend the money to justify a speed limit. I have read couple of cases where the courts did everything they could to avoid the subject or to set a precedent, they usually found someone guilty or not on some other legal merit like they admitted to speeding.

good luck.

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