Are tickets actualy illegitimate Tickets are a de facto road toll and are therefore federally prohibited. Since you can be ticketed just before entering a highway they are a de facto FHWA violation and a taking of property. Also, local governments are violating their own zoning if they toll a road, and the state doesn't even give them the right to zone a toll road.
You're wrong. RCW 46.61.415 empowers local authorities to establish and change speed limits in Washington, and ORC 4511.21 delegates the same power in Ohio. Whether or not a locality has the power to pass such laws depends on the laws of that state.
No. The laws specify what you can and what you cannot do. If the intent of the authority was that you were allowed to drive at 45 mph, you would have a speed limit of 45 mph, not a speed limit of 40 mph. If you go at 41 mph, you are breaking a law and can be punished. That said, law enforcement officers usually have some leeway on how to enforce the law, and they could very well let it pass with just a warning (or even ignore it if they have more pressing issues); the circunstances of it are specific to every situation and officer. The only point that could be made would be if the difference was so small that it could be argued that it can invalidate the evidence on the basis of margin of errors. If the radar catches you driving at 41 mph but the error margin of the radar is 5%, you could argue that you were driving at 39 mph and that the reading is due to the error in the radar1. That would enable you to challenge the evidence (but here the point is not that you are allowed to drive at 41 mph but that there is no proof that you were driving at 41 mph). From what I know, most police forces will be aware of that and avoid issuing fines unless you are well above that margin of error2. 1In fact, in Spain word of the street is that radars are set to account to possible margin of error of the radar, plus possible margin of error of the vehicle speedometer -even if it is the vehicle owner's responsibility to ensure that it works correctly- and some leeway. 2Some people post on the internet the "magic formula" of how many % of speed you can go over the posted speed limit based on those calculations. Of course those magic formulas rely in the radar and the speedometer being 100% accurate and the driver never getting distracted a few seconds and passing it. So, even assuming that those magic formulas are correct, if either the radar or the speedometer are not accurate or the driver gets distracted for a few seconds, you are at risk of getting a ticket.
The problem is that the law enforcement authorities could easily contend that the simple fact of a police car on the road projects the power and authority of law enforcement, and if a car was built and driven by someone who is not an officer, that would constitute impersonation because people would assume only a police officer would be driving a police car. The police could cite the driver for impersonation; the merits of the case could be decided in court, but it's speculation on what conclusion would be made. There's always the fact that Oregon law could be quickly amended to outlaw personal or custom vehicles which simply appear to be law enforcement vehicles, if the legislature saw the need in response to police requests or requests from the public. Current Oregon law can already interpreted to include those who impersonate the police in a vehicle. There are several recent news articles: One from ktvl.com: Anyone caught impersonating an officer is facing a Class C felony charge, with potentially up to three years in prison. And another: Police impersonator pulls over Oregon driver, turns himself in - oregonlive.com: ...turned himself in to police on Friday evening, OSP said in a release. He was cited and released for criminal impersonation of a public servant and disorderly conduct.
I have beaten all but one of my traffic tickets just by going to court. In one case, the judge threw out the charge because he couldn't read the officer's handwriting on the ticket. In another, the officer charged that I was parked in a "no parking" zone on a particular street (at night), but gave a cross street where parking was, in fact, allowed.
Traffic tickets are not equity law. This said, equity has not been done away with. It has merged with law in almost all states, and in some states, equitable defenses are available to legal claims (although in others equitable defenses are only available to equitable claims).
If the judge is kind, yes However, this is at the discretion of the judge. Even if the judge believes every word you say, you still broke the law. The speed limit in Michigan is “a careful and prudent speed not greater than nor less than is reasonable and proper” and that is not “greater than that which will permit a stop within the assured, clear distance ahead.” (MCL 257.627(1)). The posted speed limit is an upper bound on what is “careful and prudent”. Given you description of trucks obstructing your view, it’s arguable that the speed you were travelling at was not “careful and prudent”. The speed limit in school zones may be set at “not more than 20 miles per hour less than the speed limit normally posted but shall be not less than 25 miles per hour.” (MCL 257.627a(2)). And the speed limit on a local street in an area zoned for residential use is 25 mph “unless another speed is fixed and posted.” If you were in a residential street, the school zone speed is no different from the normal speed - the lights just serve to warn drivers that children are about. Finally, you are responsible for knowing the law. You are on that road at that time, it’s your duty to know what the posted limit is as well as determining what speed is “careful and prudent”. It doesn’t matter if it’s hard to know, the law presumes you know it. All that said, if you catch the judge in a good mood, they might give you a break. You don’t have a legal right to one so ask, don’t demand.
I do not know whether anyone has ever tried it, but it would not take much for a judge to conclude that the only reasonable interpretation of a speed limit sign is that the speed is to be measured relative to the surface of the road or to any other object that is stationary in that frame of reference. Does there exist provisions in any legal system to fix this legal loophole? Most rules for interpreting legal texts fix &quot;loopholes&quot; of this sort by providing for the consideration only of interpretations that are reasonably likely to have been intended, or that a reasonable person might arrive at. The interpretation that the speed limit could be measured against any frame of reference (or indeed any one other than that of the Earth's surface) is not reasonable.
Yes, that's exactly what it means. Using it to pass means passing on the right at high speed in a narrow lane full of debris, which is crazy. But they're also saying don't use any arbitrary point on the emergency lane as a turnout. A turnout is a designated &quot;wide spot&quot; made to allow a slower vehicle to be polite and exit the roadway for a moment to allow stacked up traffic behind them to pass. If you want to help people pass, watch for reasonable opportunities to do so, and slow down a bit to help them position for the pass. Then once they commit, slow down more to help them get back in.