Back in 1991 or so, I served on a jury in a speeding case. It was one of
the most exotic juries I've heard of. Of the six of us, three were
attornies and the other two college grads in different fields. In any
case, we were given the "safe and reasonable speed" criterion as the
standard to judge by. The guy was driving someone to the hospital and said
going above the speed limit was OK for this reason. As it turned out, the
defense attorney gave us all the information we needed to determine the guy
was driving too fast. He conceded that the emergency was not so important,
then went on and on about the radar gun, then showed us a detailed map of
the neighborhoods to try to argue that the posted speed limit was
anomalously low, but there was so much detail on the map that we all
realized that in our experience, those speed limits were too high. So we
decided that even if the guy was going the speed limit, it still wasn't
reasonable.
As far as I know, it's still the law, and any cop that wanted to get
someone for driving 65 in a 65 zone during a blinding rainstorm could
probably make it stick in court. It's also the reason, as I understand it,
that cops cannot be sued for dereliction of duty when they fail to stop
EVERYONE in that pack of 100 cars who are all going 75 in the 70 zone. If
that's the speed of the pack, it becomes reasonable because all going the
same speed is better than not for safety reasons.
Gregg
At 07:45 PM 8/26/2005, Gill Ediger wrote:
When I took drivers ed way back in the previous century, they told me
there was no real speed limit anyway--that there was a clause in the law
that said you must drive a "reasonable and prudent" speed. During a
blinding rain storm that might be only 15 mph, but during a cool, clear
day with minimal traffic it might be 150--if your car was built for it.
Yeah, they'd give you a ticket, but if you could convince the judge that
it was a reasonable and prudent speed given the road and traffic and
weather conditions--and maybe that you weren't all that drunk--then the
law allowed you to drive that fast on the way to the cave. Now that we've
made it into the '80s, my question is: Is that still the way the law is
written, enforced, and interpreted?
Punch it!
--Ediger
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