When Speeding Is Not
Monday, December 2nd, 2024
No speeding going on here.
I was on the Adventure Rider forum and ran across an interesting post. Apparently it was in reply to a previous post but there was no link so I did not see what exactly the discussion was, but just the reply was of note. Here is the full post. (I hope I’m not violating some kind of copyright law putting this in here.)
Section 42-4-1101 Colorado Revised Statutes state that exceeding a posted speed sign is “prima facie evidence” and subsection (4) thereof states in part:
“prima facie evidence” means evidence which is sufficient proof that the speed was not reasonable or prudent under the conditions then existing, and which will remain sufficient proof of such fact, unless contradicted and overcome by evidence bearing upon the question of whether or not the speed was reasonable and prudent under the conditions then existing.(emphasis added)
Note too that section (7) states that any “city or town” may adopt “absolute speed limits” and (8)(b) makes 75 absolute everywhere in the state.
And yes, I’ve seen people get off on that (the ones I know of were usually in the category of being in traffic all of which was flowing faster than the posted limit. But if it’s just you vs the cop, good luck!
Oh, and yes, it’s illegal for cops to speed without using their emergency signals unless in “actual pursuit” but only “so long as such pursuit is being made to obtain verification of or evidence of the guilt of the suspected violator.” So if he is just cruising at 70 in a 65 it must be “reasonable and prudent” to do so, eh? I know one guy who got off because he got the cop to admit that he had been cruising at 80 in a 65 when he passed the “speeder” who was doing 75. “Officer, did you know you were driving in excess of the absolute maximum speed in this state? (embarrassed) “Yes.” Did you believe you were driving, nonetheless, at a reasonable and prudent speed?” “Yes”. Speeder found not guilty.
So what makes this particularly interesting to me is that I was once on a jury and we had a case where this was exactly the defendant’s argument.
This was in Adams County and the bust happened up on North Federal in the Federal Heights area. It was late at night, around 3 a.m. as I recall, and this guy was going higher than the posted speed. He got pulled over and cited both for speeding and for . . . I can’t remember, either an open container of some alcoholic beverage or for drunk driving. Probably open container.
I’m not sure why he contested the alcohol charge because that was pretty cut and dried, and we convicted him on it.
On the speeding charge, however, he made the plea that the letter of the law–taken literally–meant that going faster than the posted speed limit was not technically speeding if he was going a reasonable and prudent speed. He argued that at 3 a.m. there was no other traffic at all and the road was in good shape, he had plenty of visibility, all driving conditions were good, and so his going a little over the posted speed was in fact reasonable and prudent. There was absolutely no danger to him or to anyone else.
This was a novel concept that none of us on the jury had ever heard of but because this reading of the law was not contested by the prosecution we figured we had to accept that it was valid. And we acquitted him on the speeding charge.
So there you go. It’s good to know the law. Especially if you’re getting on the wrong side of it.
Biker Quote for Today
What kind of sound does a motorcycle of a pirate usually make? It goes like “Ruuum rum rum rummmmm.”
