$250 Minimum Fine in a Work Zone
This morning I got a speeding ticket for doing 56 mph in a 45 mph work zone. The minimum ticket is $250! In the past I’ve gotten a few deserved tickets but this one I intend to fight.
I entered I-55 Southbound this morning from the Broadway on-ramp. This puts you on the highway equal with Mt. Pleasant street. By Delor, two blocks later, I was pulled over.
Work crews have been resurfacing I-55 with lanes closed some of the time and not others. Sometimes it is the left lane(s) that are closed and other times the right.
The officer asked me if I knew the speed limit. I said I didn’t — that I just entered the highway. He said the speed limit was 45 mph. I asked where it was posted to which he said, “it should be posted.” Well, I agree that it should be posted but guess what — it is not posted.
Even though I was heading to an appointment in the morning I took the next exit, Bates Street. I turned back North on I-55 so I could go back to Broadway and check the on-ramp once again to see if I missed a sign telling me of the work zone speed limit.
Work was going on Northbound as well and police were ticketing there as well. Yet, the on-ramp from Bates didn’t indicate a work zone speed limit. At Broadway neither Northbound or Southbound entrance ramps indicated a work zone speed limit.
Heading South on I-55 to my appointment the first work zone speed limit sign posted was not until after I crossed River Des Peres. Returning home this afternoon in I-44 I turned Southbound on I-55. Work started around Arsenal where a work zone speed limit was posted. It seems they are posting the work zone speed limit only at the beginning of the eight mile work zone.
I had to run to Lemay as well so I continued on I-55 to the Bayless exit in South St. Louis County. When getting back on I-55 I did notice work zone signs but that was where they were starting the work. The on-ramp from Weber Road was closed but it did have a sign. The Northbound Germania on-ramp also had a work zone sign. However, the on-ramps at Loughborough did not.
The intent of special work zone speed limits is safety. So you’d think the on ramps to the area would have the work zone posted out of concern for the safety of the workers. If I were a betting man I’d say the lacks of signs is a way to get more revenue from speeding tickets.
– Steve
Who pulled you over City or Highway Patrol?
[REPLY – A city officer. I don’t recall ever seeing a highway patrol officer in the City of St. Louis… – SLP]
Sounds like you ran afoul of the new state law, 304.580, which went into effect in August.
Some of the relevant sections are:
3. Upon a conviction or plea of guilty by any person for a speeding violation pursuant to either section 304.009 or 304.010, or a passing violation pursuant to subsection 6 of this section, the court shall assess a fine of two hundred fifty dollars in addition to any other fine authorized by law, if the offense occurred within a construction zone or a work zone and at the time the speeding or passing violation occurred there was any person in such zone who was there to perform duties related to the reason for which the area was designated a construction zone or work zone. However, no person assessed an additional fine pursuant to this subsection shall also be assessed an additional fine pursuant to subsection 2 of this section, and no person shall be assessed an additional fine pursuant to this subsection if no signs have been posted pursuant to subsection 4 of this section.
4. The penalty authorized by subsection 3 of this section shall only be assessed by the court if the department of transportation or contractor performing work for the department of transportation has erected signs upon or around a construction or work zone which are clearly visible from the highway and which state substantially the following message: “Warning: $250 fine for speeding or passing in this work zone”.
Clearly visible from the highway?
Well, if you lose, I think the fine goes to the local school district.
[REPLY – Thanks for the information! This will come in handy in court. The work zone was not clearly marked and I’ve got the photos and video to prove it! I’ll post the results next month. – SLP]
They have been particularly bad about posting anything. I cant tell you how many times I have gone to Loughborough to go south on 55 when I found that the ramp was closed. I backroaded to Carondelet blvd where I found that that ramp too was closed. It would help if they posted at the closed entrance, the detour route as to how you are supposed to access the highway. Sorry to hear about your ticket. Word to the wise, they are definitely pulling people over through here. I have seen it every morning on my way to work. Always in the southbound lanes. The highway does look nice though! I didnt realize it was in bad shape, not as much as some others in the area.
I have a question from a similar vein–parking tickets issued by the City of St. Louis.
Has anyone ever contested a ticket and “won” the appeal with the Parking Violations Bureau?
I live in Benton Park and have received no fewer than 7 parking tickets in front of my house during the 5 1/2 months I have been here. The last three came within a week of one another, the previous two came within 50 minutes of each other and for the same offense–street cleaning day. (Actually, that one I did get one waived, as I was told no violation can be ticketed twice in the same location in the same day. let alone within the same hour.) And all of these have been in the past couple of months. The last one was written at 12:20 a.m. while I slept.
Most of the time, it is something nit-picky and I try to park differently or elsewhere so to avoid it and so not to have more hassles to either pay for or fight. And each time, it is a new ticket they end up writing.
I have a fire hydrant in front of my house, fairly equally dividing my 25-foot wide property. The curb is not painted and no signs are posted. I received a ticket for parking within 15 feet. (I would estimate I was about 10 feet away, so, technically in violation, but is that a necessary ticket to write? It’s a judgment call, and one I did not contest.) But simple math indicates that with a 25-foot wide property that is controlled by the fire hydrant’s 30 foot space requirement, that I cannot legally park in front of my house. So, living on 18th Street, a one-way street that faces I-55, rather than facing neighbors’ homes, I followed suit of my neighbors up and down the block and parked on the left side of the road with two tires up on top of the curb, giving extra driving space for the one lane down the street. For that, I awoke to find a police officer had billed me another $25 while I slept (12:20 a.m.). Did he/she have nothing better to do? I was not parked on a sidewalk or in a neighbor’s yard. There is minimal space at that curb before a chain link fence and the embankment that runs down to I-55.
I have paid a couple of street-cleaning-related tickets, but the rest seem to be written without due sensibility or reasonable compassion from one human being to another human being. Without being too quick to judge a police officer’s daily/nightly responsibilities, it does seem some of these tickets are very nit-picky and are simply a pastime. You often hear of “quotas” and such. Do they exist? Is it possible that cops are writing tickets to boost revenue? I hate to assume our “protectors of peace” are killing boredom, achieving quotas and bringing in revenue with whimsically-issued tickets at the expense of citizens. But I am feeling as though the accumulating amounts are beginning to add up to an amount of rent being paid to park my car in front of my house.
Furthermore, when I do contest tickets, I receive form letter #633 that claims an investigation has been done. I sincerely question if anyone even evaluates these contest pleas, even reads the letters. Do any of you know that someone truly evaluates parking violation appeals by citizens? If so, who?
Today, I received a response to a contest plea that had been received and rejected immediately–1 day, maybe? Investigation? I think not. And, to top that, they already doubled my fines for the two simultaneously issued tickets. I objected to the tickets before their 15-day deadline, so I do not owe a late fee, but now they are notifying me to pay an amount that is double the ticket fines, within ten days, as their “investigation failed to substantiate my claims.”
I feel these tickets are written on whims by people who are not keeping in mind that real people are paying real money, $25 per ticket (And I’ve received 2 tickets, simultaneously, on at least 2 accounts). And the system that is designed to protect our rights is a dead-end. This is very frustrating. Every morning when I leave my house or when I have left my car in front of my house at any time, I fear seeing another frivolous ticket on the windshield, a senseless bill I am demanded to pay without reasonable ability to defend myself against these petty whims of indifferent officers.
Have you any knowledge of similar experiences? Or how to fight this with any success?
Thanks.