Incorrect mph zone written on speeding ticket.

[graymonkey44]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New York

I was traveling towards albany on I-90 East. I got off at exit 24 albany exit. When I got off I was going to exit 1S, I think it is. The sign says Route 20 Western Ave. It's right where the Crossgates Mall Road is.

Instead of going into the mall, I moved into the left lane and started going towards Western Ave. I didn't realize how fast as I was going and didn't even see him put his lights on, but as I turned right onto Western Ave. I see a state trooper's lights go on so I pull over. I have no idea where the state trooper was waiting, so he caught me off guard.

He tells me I was speeding and then takes my driver's license. He doesn't tell me how fast I was going or what the speed limit is, just takes my license and registration and goes back to his car. I wait for like 10 minutes and he comes back with the ticket. I didn't even see any speed limit signs on that road anyways.

He tells me he clocked me at 63mph but only wrote in 60mph on the ticket and that I was going that fast in a 45mph zone.

My girlfriend's in the car with me and the officer leaves and as we drive away, she notices that he wrote that I was going 60mph in a 20 mph zone.

I went to bring it to a lawyer to see if he could do anything about it, or to get it reduced and he kept asking me where it was and I kept trying to explain to him where I got the speeding ticket. I told him the location written on the ticket was SR910F and he was kind of being rude about it. He didn't understand it. All he said was I had to go back to where I got the ticket and be completely sure that it was a 45mph zone. I don't even remember seeing any signs for the speed limit at the certain location, but the officer himself told me it was a 45 mph zone. Does that even matter what the officer said since I can't prove that he said that unless he openly admits to it.

I'm not sure where to go from here. Should I plead not guilty and tell the judge that the officer wrote the wrong mph zone? What would happen then? Is there any way I can get this dismissed? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

And the the VTL Section is 1180d

I just checked google maps and I know for a fact it's a 45mph zone.

[url]http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=albany+new+york&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=62.61328,134.912109&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Albany,+New+York&ll=42.691363,-73.841214&spn=0.029052,0.065875&t=h&z=15&layer=c&cbll=42.691258,-73.841267&panoid=DXbynp18xo5y1S8vurVKeQ&cbp=12,212.55,,0,5[/url]

Is there anything I can do to get this dimissed based on the trooper's mistake?

[graymonkey44]

[url=http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=albany+new+york&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=62.61328,134.912109&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Albany,+New+York&ll=42.691363,-73.841214&spn=0.029052,0.065875&t=h&z=15&layer=c&cbll=42.691258,-73.841267&panoid=DXbynp18xo5y1S8vurVKeQ&cbp=12,212.55,,0,5]albany new york - Google Maps[/url]

I don't know why the link messed up

[You Are Guilty]

As luck would have it, I went to undergrad "next door" to that exit and know the area well. One thing to clear up with your story though, you said you got into the left lane, but made a right turn onto Western? There are two left-turn only lanes and two right-turn only, so why didn't you turn from the lanes on the right?

Anyway, the officer's statement of the speed limit for the road is immaterial. It was not a 20mph limit when I was there (but that was many, many moons ago, before they expanded Crossgates). So you will need to go back and get a picture of the speed limit sign for that stretch.

The good news: assuming the speed limit is anything other than 20mph, you can contest the ticket on that basis, and the ticket should be dismissed.

The bad news: if the ticket is dismissed on the basis of the typo, there's a fairly decent chance the issuing officer will be more than happy to amend or re-issue you a corrected ticket before you can leave the courthouse.

Good luck. (And be glad you didn't get sent to the courthouse in Cohoes).

[graymonkey44]

I don't know if you can tell from the picture on google maps, but when you take exit 1s that same lane goes right into the crossgates mall. I guess I should reword it, I meant to say merge into the next left lane. I was in the furthest right lane, but I had to move left into the next lane. I don't know if that clears it up for you.

[HighwayMan]

Strange that he reduced the speed from 63 to 60 because that does nothing for you - 15 or 18 over is the same fine and points.

As YAG said, the ticket, if dismissed for this mistake, can be re-issued. I don't know if troopers generally do that, but it's possible.

[You Are Guilty]

Interesting point. Who issued the ticket, APD or a State Trooper?

[graymonkey44]

State trooper

[graymonkey44]

I would probably need proof of it being 45mph zone, right? I was thinking of taking pictures of the signs with a digital camera. Or do you think it would be sufficient to just print out the google maps satellite picture?

[You Are Guilty]

Originally Posted by graymonkey44

I would probably need proof of it being 45mph zone, right? I was thinking of taking pictures of the signs with a digital camera. Or do you think it would be sufficient to just print out the google maps satellite picture?

Ideally, you subpoena the records from the city or state agency charged with maintaining the speed limit signs (usually the DOT), but absent that, I'd take your own pictures AND Google's. It's easy to not use something that you have, whereas it's much harder to use something that you don't.