Jurisdiction

Any city or town, California

Speed Trap Location

if radar is used, please read this

Nearest Reference Point

n/a

GPS Coordinates

n/a

Time of Day

Any time

Level of Enforcement

High

Type of Enforcement

Radar

Date

9/2001

If radar is used in this state, and you are pulled over you have the right to ask wheather the officer used radar. Then you can ask if the radar gun used has been calibrated, and what the latest speed survey says the 85% has been for cars traveling on the roadway, the courts have ruled that (people vs. halopoff)that speed traps are illegal, and that the courts cannot uphold speeding tickets given for cars traveling faster then the speed limits (people vs. goulet)if 85% of traffic on these roads are traveling faster then the posted speed limits. Please look this up,hundreds of cases have been overturned and/or thrown out when this precident has been used. Speed limits must be posted at 5MPH below the 85 percentile, or the speed limit is not enforcable. I hope this information helps all of us. email jlyons@co.slo.ca.us for more information

Comment (11/2002): First, re. People v. Goulet, the courts may throw the case out if the officer gives you a ticket for driving over the speed limit, but under the 85% mark. Second, If the city engineers who survey the streets find any justifiable means (i.e. blind curves, heavy pedestrian traffic, uncontrolled intersections, etc.) they may lower the speed limmit another 5 mph. So for a street with an 85th percentile of 43 mph, they may automatically lower the limit to 40 mph, then another 5 mph to 35 if they can justify it. They can not lower it any more than 10 mph from the 85th percentile. If they do...That's a speed trap!

Comment (9/2002): I would suggest asking these questions in court, and not to the cop while he is writing the ticket.

Comment (1/2003): Not an attorney, but my reading of Goulet is not that you can be cited for over the 85th %ile, but that if the survey does not justify the prima facie (posted) limit, and radar is used, a speed trap exists. Therefore under CVC 40803, and the officer is incompetent as a witness, meaning s/he can't offer evidence whether it's radar, or his/her own visual estimates.

Comment (3/2003): When you get to court, and they ask you how you plead, simply ask "Who accuses me?" and shut up and wait for an answer. They way things are done in California, like every state except Washington, is that the district attorney's don't prepare verified complaints in traffic cases. There is, therefore, nothing before the court. If the court clerk pipes up and says, "The court does," ask the judge how the court can't be prosecutor, since the court is there to hear the case, and go back to the original question. If you are lucky, the judge will grant an abatement, which is a recognition that there was nothing before the court. The worst he can do is enter a plea of "not guilty" on your behalf, which is in itself illegal, since there is nothing before the court, but write down everything and prepare a motion to dismiss when you get to your trial.

Comment (7/2003): I have personally won twice using the motor vehicle def of a speed trap. The key is to wait untill the officer testifies he used radar. If he simply says he personally witnessed you its whole different story because the speed trap law specifically pertains to radar being illegal. Once he testifies that he used radar the evidence is not allowed and he is considered incompetent to testify thus no case. The jusdge will not tell you there but in the mail so everyone behind you doesnt use your defense. Also0 fyi if you ever get a speeding ticket from air patrol BOTH officers must appear if you fight it. If mot the judge will toss it as hearsay cannot be used by one officer for the other .

Comment (8/2003): Reference to the comment of 3/2003 - Vehicle Code Section 40513 allows that when the court copy of the citation if filed with the court, the ticket is then considered the equivalent to a "formal complaint", meaning the formal charging papers.