Lawyer

too fast means someone was traveling too fast to avoid the collision. That encompasses a ton of incidents. Basically for me it was the lowest summons we could issue.

 

Um, yer honor. I deliberately nailed the stop sign to avoid hitting the driver who was texting while driving. I just came to thank your city for the safe driving award. I'll be signing autographs in the lobby after this ceremony. Thanks

 

You would be surprised how expensive highway signs are; when Oregon replaced 400 speed limit signs this year, they spent $1700 a piece: http://www.opb.org/news/article/oregon-speed-limits-increase/

The signs are deceivingly large, covered in expensive conspicuity material (a roll of mass-produced trailer tape goes for ~$100), made by government contractors making prevailing wages, and installed by government workers who have to drive out to the location, do the manual installation, and drive back.

 

My experience has shown me that every state/county in the country has different sets of rules (written and unwritten) when it comes to accidents. An example is those that deal with "no fault" situations, and many jurisdictions address them more like a civil situation if it is minor and there is no injury. What I have seen in my neck of the woods is that citations/tickets are mostly used by the courts to make sure that an aggrieved party (as in this case, the gov't is completely reimbursed for the cost of the sign) is made whole. When all parties are satisfied, I have seen the cases routinely dropped.
And of course, it never hurts to seek the advice of a local lawyer that specializes in traffic court.

 

Im not trying to show you up Trooper. I just retired after 29 yrs law enforcement and I am 2 hours south of where he got the ticket so I know what im talking about in this instance. In others.....maybe not so much!