Subject: Advice: Traf Surv recommends 15% of Avg Speed!

From: [email-masked] (Tom Armstrong)
Date: 14 Nov 1995 23:27:42 GMT

I'm fighting a radar ticket in a 25mph zone.  The traffic survey indicates 
that the 85% percentile is 38mph, and 82% of the drivers are between 28mph
and 38mph.  Basically, 25mph is the 15th percentile; therefore 85% of the 
drivers are in violation of the law.  Yet the survey recommends a 25mph 
speed limit, due to "a high accident rate."  Apparently the vehicle code says
the traffic survey can recommend a lower speed than the 85th percentile if 
there is a mitigating circumstance.

Some other facts: traffic on this street is the highest in the town (kind of
correlates to the accident rate, no?); the survey did not indicate causes 
of the accidents; the road surveyed changes from a 4-lane straight, wide 
road (where I was ticketed) to a 2-lane road with a couple curves; yet the 
survey does not indicate where the average speed was measured, and recommends 
the 25mph for the entire stretch.  The 25mph limit has been in place for 
over 6 years.

This zone was marked as "speed measured by radar," but I didn't pay much 
attention to it since I've seen signs like that all the time and have never 
been stopped before, plus it was around 10pm when traffic was light and I 
didn't think they'd be out.  I observed no obvious technical mistakes on the 
ticket.  I get the feeling that the P.D. is very experienced enforcing speed 
tickets in this area, and derives quite a nice bit of revenue from motorists 
passing through their township.  

Interestingly, a note from the police chief stapled to the front of the 
survey indicated that the department policy was not to ticket *below* the 
85th percentile (38mph), but they should not volunteer this information, 
only if they get complaints about speeders.  The radar measured my speed
at over 38mph, and probably beyond any reasonable margin of error.

The survey shows that accidents are clustered at intersections, the most 
accidents at the busiest intersection with a light, where the road crosses at 
an angle.  I suspect the accidents are related to issues other than speed: 
pedestrians, right and left turns against the light, running the light, etc.  
I not close to this intersection when ticketed.

Any ideas how to fight this in court?  Could I argue that the recommendations
of the traffic survey are flawed because they failed to show that the high
accident rate was due to speeding?  That it unrealistically sets a single
speed despite widely differing road conditions, and despite the fact that 
85% of drivers are in violation of the law?  Any other ideas where I should
investigate?  What argument or evidence will best stand up in a court (county
seat) that is probably used to enforcing this law?

Thanks in advance...