Law Enforcement Officer Question- Speeding Ticket

[mac_attack]

Scroll to the bottom to skip the story and go straight to the question....

So, the other day I was on my way to work, passing through a small town that I have been driving through for a few months now. On my way out of town I get nailed by a local police officer. He has a tough time catching up to me because of traffic. I pull over, roll down the window, shut off the truck and sit and wait for him to visit me. He tells me he clocked me doing 70mph in a 55mph zone and that it was in a construction zone with workers present. I mention to him that I thought it changes from 55 to 70 as you leave town and pass through the road construction. He tells me that is not correct and that the speed limit does not change until after the construction zone. I sign the ticket and turn around to look for the speed limit sign that I know is there, I have been driving the same road for months now.

Now on to the important stuff... on the ticket he wrote that he clocked me at "155N and Circle" across the street from where he was posted up. Well Circle Dr. is as you would imagine a circle. It is the last side road on your way out of town and the first road after you pass the city limit sign. It just so happens that the city limit sign and the 70mph speed limit sign are posted on the same pole side by side. The 70mph sign is less than 500ft from Circle Dr inside the city limits and less than 100ft from Circle Dr just past the sign. As to the construction zone, the actual "zone" is posted a few hundred feet before Circle Dr, however the limits of the construction according to TXDot (inspector and online) are about 1/4mi outside of the city limits/70mph sign. I also do not remember seeing any construction workers. And the offense was recorded at 12:15pm on a sunny Tuesday. I returned the next day, a sunny Wednesday and snapped a few pictures of the speed limit sign and the construction zone at 12:20pm, no workers present until ~12:45pm.


Question: When talking about construction zones and they say “when workers are present� are they referring to workers present at the time of the offense or workers present anywhere in the construction zone?

I added a cheesy little pic to help illustrate where Circle Dr is and also the limits of the actual construction. They dont have anything online about the "zone" and the TXDot worker said the "zone" is not always the same buffer, and it's used for staging and storage, which neither were going on.

[KBCraig]

The 70mph sign is less than 500ft from Circle Dr inside the city limits and less than 100ft from Circle Dr just past the sign. As to the construction zone, the actual "zone" is posted a few hundred feet before Circle Dr, however the limits of the construction according to TXDot (inspector and online) are about 1/4mi outside of the city limits/70mph sign.

I do not understand what you're trying to lay out here.

How about writing down the changes (including the spot the officer cited) in linear order, as one would encounter them while driving.

I know it's not related to your actual question, I'm just having a hard time wrapping my head around where the speed zone is, and where he clocked you, and where the construction zone is relative to all that. The screen shot of the map is great, it just doesn't help without knowing which direction you were traveling.

[carlson1]

Mac was this in Winona on 155 North? Was it Constable John Smith? If so PM me I might be able to help you.

[mac_attack]

I do not understand what you're trying to lay out here.

How about writing down the changes (including the spot the officer cited) in linear order, as one would encounter them while driving.

i was traveling north (on 155)...

first you pass by a sign that says "begin work zone" than about 1/4mi down the road you come to the first part of circle dr on the right (where the cop sited, he was sitting on the left/west side of the road at this intersection) less than 500ft beyond that you come to the city limit/70mph sign, less than 100ft after that you come to the second part of circle dr on the right (outside the city limits), than 1/4mi down the road you enter the actual road work limits which continue for just about 2mi...

Mac was this in Winona on 155 North? Was it Constable John Smith? If so PM me I might be able to help you.

Yes this was on 155 North but no this was just north of Winona in Big Sandy with a Big Sandy police officer

[KC5AV]

Maybe you can ask the judge to have mercy on your poor miserable soul, and request deferred adjudication... if your driving record is relatively clean otherwise.

Hopefully it isn't like one of the small towns around here where moving violations are used to fill the city coffers.

[KD5NRH]

Hopefully it isn't like one of the small towns around here where moving violations are used to fill the city coffers.

One? Where do you live that there's only one?

IMO, you're probably best off tracking down one of those speeding-ticket-specialist, no-charge-unless-we-win lawyers. At worst, you'll be in the same boat as if you try to fight any ticket in a speedtrap town, and at best you'll pay a relatively small fee to avoid the insurance increase.

You need to at least beat the construction zone part; 15 over in an active zone is likely to be expensive. See if you can get something in writing showing that the construction zone did not include the area where you were clocked. This is the sort of thing that the lawyer can deal with for you, and if you can find one near that town, he will also likely be familiar with the judges there.

[KC5AV]

OK, one of the many.

[lrb111]

Question: When talking about construction zones and they say “when workers are present� are they referring to workers present at the time of the offense or workers present anywhere in the construction zone?

The only speeding ticket I ever got was because of a work zone. I was two miles from workers, on new finished highway. Two trucks had already passed me at over 70mph. DPS gave me a ticket for 70 in a 55, on I-20. The answer I got was "workers anywhere in the zone." There were 4 DPS officers milking that otherwise clear zone.

[carlson1]

Mac was this in Winona on 155 North? Was it Constable John Smith? If so PM me I might be able to help you.

Yes this was on 155 North but no this was just north of Winona in Big Sandy with a Big Sandy police officer

Sorry cannot help in Big Sandy.