A-Courting we will Go

Chatting with one of my students today about his speeding ticket... got me thinking....

Next time I get a traffic ticket, I may try the following gambits (in which case my postings will decrease dramatically as I do not think they allow you internet priveleges from 'the big house'...)

First, I looked at all the speed limit signs on the way to work this afternoon and not one of them said what the units of measurement was for the number on the sign. It just says "Speed Limit 40" - well, I want to know "40 what?"

I was told all through my primary and secondary schooling that numbers without units are useless and as such are always to be marked "Wrong!"

So what of this then? I don't see myself painting a big red X on every speed limit I see but I could see myself in court alleging the fictitious nature of the signs.

And if that does not fly, I have a backup plan. All I need to do is ask the cop how long he monitored my speed, and if his answer is anything less than an hour then I should be found not guilty (for reasons other than insanity, which I freely acknowledge).

The speed limit rules indicate that I may not travel miore than the number of miles posted on the sign within any given hour. Not ten minutes, not five. It is unfair to extrapolate that, if I drive ten miles in ten minutes, then in one hour I will have gone 60 miles.

What happens if I have a flat, or stop for lunch? I'm entitled to leave home, drive like a bat out of hell and go 60 miles in thirty minutes, and then take a half hour break! Same result - 60 miles in one hour.

I have the PennDot driver's guide open in another window, and nowhere does it state anything about an instantaneous rate of speed being protracted into an hour's worth of travel time.

I think it would be more appropriate to limit the speed in units of, perhaps "feet per second". That way, an officer would only need to sample my speed for one second and then could, in clear conscience without the burden of having to predict the future or determine the past, issue a ticket.

What do you think the judge's response to my assertion would be?