Failure to obey highway sign (speeding) (Annandale, Fairfax: lawyer, live in, law)

[uv1293]

Hello Everyone,

Can anybody share advice or tips for court with this charge?

I was pulled over for visually speeding. Just some background, I turned onto Little River Turnpike from Woodburn rd in Annandale, its sort of a hard intersection to see as there are tons of trees. Traffic was pretty heavy for a wednesday night (9pm) so I saw a gap for me to turn and merge in and went. I accelerated to merge into traffic safely and get to the far left lane to eventually turn left for Guinea road. As soon as I turned onto Little River I gassed it to merge in and was pulled over by a Fairfax County officer waiting at the light a 3 or 4 cars back from the front of the line at the intersection of Prosperity (where the pizza hut is).

I immediately pulled over and he got out quick to ask me how fast I was going. I told him I wasn't sure because I wasn't looking at my speedo I was just trying to merge safely. He said I looked to be going 60mph when I passed pizza hut. He told me he could give me a reckless, but he wouldn't, he wouldn't even write me a speeding ticket. He gave me a failure to obey a hwy sign ticket.

After the ticket he was friendly and thanked me for stopping, I ride a motorcycle so I understand alot of bikers are a pain in the ass for cops. I was very cooperative because I really didn't believe nothing would come of the stop.

Has anyone fought a failure to obey and won?

I just question how accurate his visual determination of my speed was. Also, there is no speed limit signs anywhere near where I was pulled over so could that be a valid argument? Plus not to mention I know the area well, I know there is a police station right off woodburn and I even saw the officer cutting through the CVS parking lot to get to Prosperity Road, so it was never my intention to speed.

I am going with my merging defense in court, and also saying there is no way I was doing 60 mph in the short distance from woodburn to prosperity. Seriously, my girlfriend was following me in a car and she couldn't believe I was pulled over. I wasn't speeding. She never stopped though.

-Thanks in advance

[Flamingo13]

Woodburn Rd. has a light as far as I can recall - you can WAIT for a light if you need to get across lanes to a turn lane. Not really safe (imo) to see a "gap" and go for it.

[aggielaw]

Very interesting. The citation should have the statute you violated written on it. I suspect it's this one:

§ 46.2-830. Uniform traffic control devices on highways; drivers to obey traffic control devices; enforcement of section."

The Commissioner of Highways may classify, designate, and mark state highways and provide a uniform system of traffic control devices for such highways under the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth. Such system of traffic control devices shall correlate with and, so far as possible, conform to the system adopted in other states.
All drivers of vehicles shall obey lawfully erected traffic control devices.
No provision of this section relating to the prohibition of disobeying traffic control devices or violating local traffic control devices shall be enforced against an alleged violator if, at the time and place of the alleged violation, any such traffic control device is not in proper position and sufficiently legible to be seen by an ordinarily observant person.

With the caveat that this is not legal advice, here are some thoughts for you:

- First, some states have means by which the prosecutor could charge you with more serious offenses based on the expected testimony of the officer. This is a very low risk, but considering the officer specifically mentioned he thought he had a case for reckless driving it's something you should consider.

- This is probably a civil offense and not a criminal offense, so anything you said to the officer is admissible against you as an admission by party opponent. Criminal protections against self-incrimination will not apply because you're not charged with a crime, unless Virginia Commonwealth law extends criminal protections to civil offenses such as this one.

- If you go to trial the officer will have to testify about what traffic sign you failed to obey. That will get interesting for several reasons. One of them is it tells you what your specific defense needs to be. For example, you and the officer know the real issues are speeding and potentially reckless driving. But if those aren't the charged offenses testimony about them probably isn't relevant. If it becomes relevant somehow, testimony about reckless driving it is still excludable because the probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice.

- Here's a neat twist with your fact pattern: an explicit defense under the statute above is that the sign wasn't in a proper position to be seen by a reasonable person. If you raise that defense you make your speeding and potentially reckless driving relevant. That will turn a jury or judge against you and they might convict you because they think you did something wrong other than what you're cited for. The law says they're not supposed to do that, but it happens every day. It's particularly risky in the DC area, because everyone in the country talks about how rude the drivers in northern Virginia are, including most people who live in northern Virginia. If a jury gets the sense you were driving aggressively you're probably going to lose. I would consider Flamingo's note above as a good sign your story won't go over too well with a jury. If you happen to be young, too, that's a double whammy. It's a stereotype, but juries tend to think young drivers (teens or twenties) drive too aggressively.

- If you really, really want to fight this, paying a lawyer would be wise. However, that partly defeats the purpose of contesting it, because a guilty or no contest plea results in nothing more than a fine plus court costs. You won't get any points against your license for just paying the fee.

- Recognizing some (many? most?) people won't care about this, I offer that contesting the citation might have an effect on the officer we in the community don't want. He may have only cited you for a "no points" violation because he thought a speeding or reckless citation wouldn't hold up if contested at trial. However, if he thinks people are going to contest even a no points citation he has nothing to lose - he might as well write the citation for reckless and speeding because he's going to trial either way. When police officers start thinking that way they start writing everyone up for violations that carry points with them. There are many cases where the facts are different than yours and citing for failure to obey a sign is pure mercy. Too many people contesting no points citations makes an officer not want to ever offer that mercy. Just a thought.

Whatever you decide to do, good luck!

[boyd888]

Originally Posted by aggielaw

There are many cases where the facts are different than yours and citing for failure to obey a sign is pure mercy. Too many people contesting no points citations makes an officer not want to ever offer that mercy. Just a thought.

Failure to obey a highway sign is three points. I skimmed your post but you are going to post a giant wall of advice at least make sure you are right.

In Fairfax County you are going to be found guilty pay it and move on with your life. If you were on a bike it's pretty obvious you gunned it hard and cut over. It will be you vs the cop in court and you're gonna lost...it is what it is.

[Bigfoot424]

Originally Posted by boyd888

Failure to obey a highway sign is three points. I skimmed your post but you are going to post a giant wall of advice at least make sure you are right.

In Fairfax County you are going to be found guilty pay it and move on with your life. If you were on a bike it's pretty obvious you gunned it hard and cut over. It will be you vs the cop in court and you're gonna lost...it is what it is.

You beat me to it. But to the OP. Police officers are considered experts in estimating speeds and unless this is a rookie I would imagine his testimony will easily lead to a conviction. But you certainly have the right to contest this ticket if you wish. Just curious, what were you riding?

[skeddy]

I would you suggest you attend traffic court prior to your hearing and see how it works. After that you will pay the fine and move on.

[elias9193]

About a year ago my son got the same ticket as yourself, he was going north on 95 and a State trooper pulled
him over and gave him the Failure to obey highway sign ticket. I hired a lawyer and he advised us that my son take a Drivers course online, which he did before our court date. He went to court and paid a fine and got no
points on his Drivers License. This was in Stafford County, I hear Fairfax and Loudon are pretty strict.

[Bigfoot424]

In some courts, PWC for one, you cannot take the driver improvement clinic ahead of time w/o the judge's approval. If you do you run the risk of them refusing to accept it. Not sure about FX though.

[boyd888]

Originally Posted by elias9193

hired a lawyer

That's why your ticket was dismissed. They recommend it as part of their services, but really the driver's class has nothing to do with it.

If you do you run the risk of them refusing to accept it. Not sure about FX though.

In FFX they do not accept it either (because it is a joke). If you ask about it in front of the judge (like a delayed conviction thing) they will let people know they can take it afterwards to get points (+5) back.