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The judge is an idiot but a bigger problem is the system. These 'frivolous' tickets are a goddamn extra tax that serve no purpose other than to fill city coffers and buy bigger police cars for our militarized police force. They spend more time on traffic stops than real crimes because it is a guaranteed stream of income. And with most judges in their hip pockets, the people have NO chance in these scenarios. You don't even realize many of these systems are put in place not for safety, but for money. I lived in a rural area as a kid, and there was one speed trap in a town of about 600 people where as you descended a large hill going into the town, the speed quickly dropped. The 35 mph sign was placed literally 3 feet in front of a large willow tree that was nearly impossible to see. Everyday the fat cops sat in the same spots and most of the time I went through the town, they had some poor sap pulled over who likely didn't even see the sign. Many states and municipalities are given safe driving speeds by engineers with a suggestion to make the speed limit 10-15% below the maximum for safety. However most cities/states choose a much lower speed that is closer to 30% below maximum safety for the sole purpose of revenue. The below link has some information citing how speed limits are largely political and not for safety.
The link is from Wikipedia. In case you didn't know, anyone can create an entry for Wikipedia, and anyone can edit the entries. It is NOT considered a reliable primary source.
As for the rest, your story doesn't hold water, really. If the town was a 600 person town, pretty much everyone in town (and the surrounding rural area who drive to the town) including the kids had to know where that "speed trap" was. So they would not get "caught" in it unless they were speeding, and if they were speeding, KNOWING WHERE IT WAS, then either they were thumbing their nose at the law or they were too dump and/or incompetent to be driving a multi-ton vehicle on public roads.
If you're talking about a speed limit changing on a highway (not freeway) going through a small town, that's very common here, and it's not for fund-generating reasons. Usually the speed limit drops from 65 or 70 (depending on if its a two or four lane highway) to 55, then to 45, then to 40 or 35, depending on the size of the town and how many roads in the town enter the highway. With the idiots that don't even SEE the towns they're driving through and could care less about the danger they pose to the residents, ticketing them when they ignore the speed limit signs as well as the town is about the only way to get across to them that driving like a bat out of hell through a community is not the thing to do because it impacts THEM negatively, since they don't care about anyone else. So it is a safety issue, though you could never in a million years get the people getting a ticket for speeding through small towns to admit it in a million years because then they'd have to admit they did something wrong.
Again, got a problem with the speed limit? Work to get it changed. In the meantime, you don't get to just decide that if you don't like a law, it doesn't apply to you. Still feel the need to speed - fine, sometimes I do, too. Thing is, if I get caught speeding, I don't pretend that it's anybody's fault but my own for making the decision to violate a law. I'd be embarrassed to whine that it's all somebody else's fault and I was "trapped" or that I'm such a special flower that the laws that I don't like don't apply to me and that if I get a ticket it's not FAIR!!! I got over that when I was, oh, maybe five or so. Definitely before I was old enough to get a driver's license.
The link is from Wikipedia. In case you didn't know, anyone can create an entry for Wikipedia, and anyone can edit the entries. It is NOT considered a reliable primary source.
As for the rest, your story doesn't hold water, really. If the town was a 600 person town, pretty much everyone in town (and the surrounding rural area who drive to the town) including the kids had to know where that "speed trap" was. So they would not get "caught" in it unless they were speeding, and if they were speeding, KNOWING WHERE IT WAS, then either they were thumbing their nose at the law or they were too dump and/or incompetent to be driving a multi-ton vehicle on public roads.
If you're talking about a speed limit changing on a highway (not freeway) going through a small town, that's very common here, and it's not for fund-generating reasons. Usually the speed limit drops from 65 or 70 (depending on if its a two or four lane highway) to 55, then to 45, then to 40 or 35, depending on the size of the town and how many roads in the town enter the highway. With the idiots that don't even SEE the towns they're driving through and could care less about the danger they pose to the residents, ticketing them when they ignore the speed limit signs as well as the town is about the only way to get across to them that driving like a bat out of hell through a community is not the thing to do because it impacts THEM negatively, since they don't care about anyone else. So it is a safety issue, though you could never in a million years get the people getting a ticket for speeding through small towns to admit it in a million years because then they'd have to admit they did something wrong.
Again, got a problem with the speed limit? Work to get it changed. In the meantime, you don't get to just decide that if you don't like a law, it doesn't apply to you. Still feel the need to speed - fine, sometimes I do, too. Thing is, if I get caught speeding, I don't pretend that it's anybody's fault but my own for making the decision to violate a law. I'd be embarrassed to whine that it's all somebody else's fault and I was "trapped" or that I'm such a special flower that the laws that I don't like don't apply to me and that if I get a ticket it's not FAIR!!! I got over that when I was, oh, maybe five or so. Definitely before I was old enough to get a driver's license.
These are the 'holier than thou' people that grab their bibles and bury their heads in the sand rather than try to understand things. So I used Wikipedia, THE SOURCES WERE CITED unless you weren't taught how to read at age 5. I have no issue with slow speeds through small towns, the issue was how it was on a state highway so not everyone going through the area is local, and expecting people to just "know it's there" is not an argument. Deliberately hiding a sign behind a tree that was there first is only done for the purposes of creating a speed trap. As for changing the laws, if it was that simple I am sure that many of our national problems would be solved. Unfortunately you have less control than you really think in this country. A majority of Americans think marijuana should be legalized, yet it remains illegal federally. Laws aren't decided based on what majority wants, but what small councils decide. Get off your "High Horse" horse lady and realize that the OP wasn't driving like a bat out of hell. I think going 27 MPH wouldn't be characterized that way even if it was 1910.
I'm sorry, but I've had enough. I was driving in a "school zone" at 4:28 PM. I was going the speed of traffic, I was going on a major street in my city, there was no "pedestrians" around, and it was, I repeat, 4:28 PM. School was long, long over. But, ok, if the speed limit was 20 and I was going 45, then I would understand getting a ticket, but no, I was going 27 miles per hour at 4:28 PM with no pedestrians on a major road in my city when school was almost 1:30 hours out of session and I get slapped with a speed limit for speeding in a "school zone". From research, apparently, DURING SCHOOL HOURS, going at 26 is a ticket. So, I was one mph above that an hour and a half after school ended, going the speed of traffic. This all makes sense. While my city has one of the highest murder rates in the country, with gangs roaming the city untouched, I am slapped with a ticket for this.
Good job, police department. You "got" me!
Oh stop being whiny and man up.
Driving is like going on safari in the jungle... around every tree is a hazard and/or something that wants to eat you. Let your guard down for a second or fail to notice trouble before it's too late and you become lunch. That's the real world folks... just because the jungle is now concrete doesn't mean the same game isn't still being played.
Just be glad you only have a fine to pay and didn't end up as tomorrow's fecal material as per the "old rules". Personally I'm glad you have to pay... the inattentiveness and general stupidity of people like you totally subsidize all the fun things my city puts on so that I can enjoy them without having to pay extra sales or property taxes and are otherwise fees entirely avoidable by me so long as I remember "it's a jungle out there" and drive accordingly.
Ok, first off it was a camera, not a police officer. Second, in driving school, I remember them saying it was more important to go the speed of traffic than the speed limit, and if anything, I was going slow. The next problem I have is that they have a sign saying "Speed Limit 35" and then five seconds later a school sign quickly pops up with a camera literally right after the sign. That set-up in itself is truly unfair. Finally, seven miles-per-hour is really just a twitch of the leg. It's not like I was driving as if I were on the interstate!
Yeah, the law applies to me, but it doesn't mean that the law is right.
sorry my friend but life isnt fair. you might be able to make the case that perhaps the sign location is illegal. get the law books out and study real hard. find the section on how far the warning for a school should be from said school zone. then go measure the distance and see if it fits the law. if so then tough, pay the fine and remember that school zone. if not then you perhaps have a case and can get the ticket overturned.
Driving is like going on safari in the jungle... around every tree is a hazard and/or something that wants to eat you. Let your guard down for a second or fail to notice trouble before it's too late and you become lunch. That's the real world folks... just because the jungle is now concrete doesn't mean the same game isn't still being played.
Just be glad you only have a fine to pay and didn't end up as tomorrow's fecal material as per the "old rules". Personally I'm glad you have to pay... the inattentiveness and general stupidity of people like you totally subsidize all the fun things my city puts on so that I can enjoy them without having to pay extra sales or property taxes and are otherwise fees entirely avoidable by me so long as I remember "it's a jungle out there" and drive accordingly.
Thank you OP for your contribution.
What a rude comment. You're glad I have to pay? What a cold-hearted comment. I am just SO stupid for not holding up traffic on a major road to read the tiny print on a school zone sign almost an hour and a half after school ended. I am SO stupid for going the speed of traffic and was RACING through town at a SUPERSONIC speed of 27 mph. You are just SUCH a better driver than me Chango. All Hail God Chango! Divine Ruler of Driving!
sorry my friend but life isnt fair. you might be able to make the case that perhaps the sign location is illegal. get the law books out and study real hard. find the section on how far the warning for a school should be from said school zone. then go measure the distance and see if it fits the law. if so then tough, pay the fine and remember that school zone. if not then you perhaps have a case and can get the ticket overturned.
but please stop whining.
Can you explain to me why different high schools in the same area have different times for their school zones? Can you explain to me why they put the camera right around the same so the driver doesn't have sufficient time to slow down? Can you explain why questioning the rules in place is now labeled as "whining"?
What a rude comment. You're glad I have to pay? What a cold-hearted comment. I am just SO stupid for not holding up traffic on a major road to read the tiny print on a school zone sign almost an hour and a half after school ended. I am SO stupid for going the speed of traffic and was RACING through town at a SUPERSONIC speed of 27 mph. You are just SUCH a better driver than me Chango. All Hail God Chango! Divine Ruler of Driving!
Not like I've never paid a ticket friend... but I sure as hell didn't whine about how unfair it was that I got one because I wasn't paying attention and missed something as obvious as flashing school zone lights.
Besides, I'm an easy-going god... I only ask for 5% tithes, 1/4 of your prettiest women and I'll even buy the wine sometimes.
Thus sayeth The Chango... admit thou wast foolish for thou hast steppethed into an avoidable trap of which most children of the road avoid with ease. Behold, I say unto you: Pay Caesar what is his, go forth and sin no more.
Not like I've never paid a ticket friend... but I sure as hell didn't whine about how unfair it was that I got one because I wasn't paying attention and missed something as obvious as flashing school zone lights...
Many of these smug, self-righteous responses assume the OP had reasonable notice of the speed limit in effect when IMO it's not so obvious from the facts and information provided.
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