PORTSMOUTH — A Dover woman who spent an hour interrogating local police in the District Court about a $100 speeding ticket lost her appeal to the state Supreme Court.
The local court found Christina Downs, 24, guilty of speeding after a one-hour hearing last October, when she represented herself and read from a list of 96 questions, filed motions, raised objections and cross-examined local police officers. After several scoldings from the presiding judge for straying off topic while acting as her own attorney, Downs was found guilty and ordered to pay the $100 ticket.
Downs appealed to the state’s highest court, arguing that local police failed to respond to her request for engineering studies used to calculate the speed limit on Elwyn Road, where she was ticketed May 23, 2007, for driving 44 mph in the 25 mph zone. She asked the District Court to dismiss the ticket because she did not receive the engineering studies. Local police said they do not have them, if they exist.
In its order published Wednesday, the Supreme Court found the burden of proof fell to Downs to show relevancy of an engineering study to the posted speed limit and she did not do so.
The court concluded Downs “did not overcome the presumption that the posted speed limit was valid” and that the District Court did not err in its finding of her guilt.
During her October District Court trial, Downs appeared with her uncle, Larry Lemay, who whispered advice in her ear throughout. Officer Timothy Cashman testified during the hearing that after he gave Downs the speeding ticket, she sped off so quickly he pulled her over for speeding again, but that time gave her a verbal warning.
Downs questioned the officer’s experience, his training, his work schedule, the radar technology used to determine her speed, weather conditions, traffic flow and his knowledge about law as it pertains to speed. She also questioned whether he knew if any other officer had ever dropped a tuning fork used to calibrate the radar devices and then filed another motion for dismissal.
Cashman responded with a complex mathematical formula used to determine how quickly she could stop in the event of an emergency, given her speed, demographics and using an “average perception reactor time.“
The judge urged Downs to “get on to relevant questions,“ noting a full courtroom of other people with cases waiting to be heard. When the judge then began asking Cashman questions, Downs objected to her “questioning the witness.“
One has to wonder, exactly how much did she cost the state by ordering it to ‘prove’ she was guilty? (Don’t get me wrong, i believe every citizen has the right to challenge what they see as an unfair law.) In this case, she was speeding. She KNEW she was speeding. rather than pony up and be responsible, she tried to use the “Yes, i was going 44 in a 25 zone, but that was only because it should have been allocated a higher speed to begin with..“ defense. *sigh*
Yeah.. I went to traffic court with a friend of mine (they had the very real possibility of getting their license suspended, and so would need a ride and moral support), and someone tried pretty much this same tactic.
The judge’s response was basically to the effect of ‘It doesn’t matter *what* the posted speed limit *should* be, you broke the speed limit as it was posted, and that’s why you got pulled over’. They also tried the ‘well, how do you *know* I was going over the limit’ gambit, claiming that radar guns ‘don’t work that way because radio waves go faster than light’, etc.. Never mind she was apparently going 75 in a school zone with a 25 mph limit..
Yeah, it was fun.
On the plus side, my friend got off with a (rather stern) warning, as the judge really didn’t want any more drama after that.
.. Never mind she was apparently going 75 in a school zone with a 25 mph limit..
On the plus side, my friend got off with a (rather stern) warning, as the judge really didn’t want any more drama after that.
WoW common sense warns speed reduction to a crawl in a school zone….............can you imagine the ‘drama’ of smashing into children at a speed of 75 MPH???
My mom got pulled over in a school zone the other day. I guess she turned into the school zone from an interesecting street and didn’t actually pass the flashing yellow light that warns you of the zone. But there was another light at the END of the school zone which she did see…and as she’s looking at the light and going…“oooh…Uhh…AH! SCHOOL ZONE!“ She slammed on her brakes about the same time an officer pulled up behind her. The officer was really trying to convince her to go to court over it, but she kept saying, “No, it’s okay. It’s a school zone and I broke the law. I’ll just pay it.“
But I think some school zones are silly. For a highschool? Sorry, at 14 you should understand the basics of crossing an intersection. I could even see how dropping the speed limit in front of the school to 40 permanently would be a better idea than slowing it to 20 for a few hours each day. PLUS, both entrances to the school has traffic lights. Which gives people leaving the school an equal chance of getting into the road without trying to decide when they should jump into traffic. And there just are NOT walking students for the private schools in our area. Not a single walker. But we’re still slowing to a crawl. This mostly gives the parents a chance to clog traffic b/c they race out of the exit fast than we are crawling down the road.
Neither of our high schools have a school speed zone, but the limit is 35 mph in front of both. However, we do have a fair number of walkers around both, and no special lights stop signs at the entrances to the lots. What annoys me is that the kids don’t pay attention to the speed limit anyway.
My parents live down the street from one of the high schools, and the road goes over a blind hill just before their house. Further down the street is a stop sign because the road ends in a lake and the cross street has right of way. So every day the cars back all the way up the street because of that stop sign, and one day (after I was home already, as I walked and got there much faster than if I’d have had a ride) I heard a crash and looked outside to find some idiot had sped over the hill at probably 40 or 45 and slammed into the rest of the cars. A four-car pileup, all because of one idiot in a truck. The best photo I could get of it (without alerting the police there that I was even taking photos) was this:
This is actually a very common tactic to get a speeding ticket overturned. It has to do with HOW speed limits are determined and the speeder is hoping that the speed limit was an arbitrary limit rather than one created by a traffic engineering study. It is based on the 85th percentile rule - if the speeder can prove that the speed limit ignored the rule then they have a ghost of a chance to get it overturned on a technicality.
Ironically, this woman shares my last name - I always lose in court too
................ So every day the cars back all the way up the street because of that stop sign, ............
If you are aware that this is an every day occurrence, you could either leave early, leave later, or simply be prepared to wait. Trying to ‘push and shove’ seldom works well with vehicles.
................ So every day the cars back all the way up the street because of that stop sign, ............
If you are aware that this is an every day occurrence, you could either leave early, leave later, or simply be prepared to wait. Trying to ‘push and shove’ seldom works well with vehicles.
Yeah, but as I said, I never had to be part of the line. I walked home everyday. I’m just saying that high schoolers aren’t that smart, especially when they don’t care ‘cuz it’s mommy’s or daddy’s car and they don’t have any consequences when something goes wrong with it, as was the case for most of the kids at my high school.
.. Never mind she was apparently going 75 in a school zone with a 25 mph limit..
On the plus side, my friend got off with a (rather stern) warning, as the judge really didn’t want any more drama after that.
WoW common sense warns speed reduction to a crawl in a school zone….............can you imagine the ‘drama’ of smashing into children at a speed of 75 MPH???
It would be the kids’ fault, of course, for being in the area and for being all squishy.
