Daily Dose of Sultnpapper 11/17/17 > “Not guilty by reason of insanity “ a plea… for a speeding ticket???

About a week ago I set out to tell you about what would seem like a “crazy plea” in defense of a speeding ticket.
We all know that insanity or the term “insane” is the politically correct speak for identifying someone who, in everyday language, is just referred to as “crazy”. Just like I have been known to do, I got side tracked, and went off in totally different direction. I really need to work on that aspect of my behavior. Today I am going to try to get through this daily dose without getting “off track”, I can’t promise that won’t happen, but I am going to try to stay focused on the task at hand, because, I do have some very good information to share with you.

We trust people to tell us the truth, especially our parents, but what if the people you trusted to supply you the knowledge never really checked to see if the information was in fact correct and accurate? They wouldn’t necessarily be” lying “to you, but would be doing you an injustice for sure. Case in point is when you start driving, most people start driving in their teenage years in the United States. I’m not sure about other countries, but follow along even if you are foreign to the US, this may apply in your country as well.

When we start driving we are told that we must obey the traffic signs and speed limit signs. I know that was told to me long ago when I got my license at sixteen years old. I never gave a second thought that the signs wouldn’t apply since I was now going to be in control of a vehicle on the streets and highways.

Here in the state of Texas, the Texas Department of Transportation has a complete set of regulations called codes that govern the use of the streets and highways. When you go to get a driver’s license in Texas you must pass a written test and a driving performance test. The state is kind enough to give you a small booklet before hand to study the laws of the road so that you can pass the written portion of the test. Indeed, very kind of them to provide that booklet.

Enforcement of those traffic laws is big business in Texas, both for the state government and local jurisdictions as well. While I could attack several areas of the code, I am going to stay focused on one area, speeding and speeding tickets.
The little booklet provide for people says that you must adhere to the posted speed limits, those are referred to in the code as “speed signs”. As a young teenager you believe what you read, especially if it is an official publication from the state of Texas. But what if I were to tell you that for most people those speed signs may as well be trees, because they really aren’t meant for a person driving a non commercial vehicle?

Trees are nice to observe while driving, but aren’t along the roads to dictate how fast you should go and neither are those speed limit signs. So you think I’m insane or crazy? I may be, but not when it comes to this subject. Let’s take a look at the “big” book, the Texas Transportation Code, the book I didn’t get to study from for the test, and see what it has to say about “speed signs”.

To find that portion of the code we must go to the State of Texas Transportation Code and look under section 201. >subchapter K – Road and Highway Use : Signs , there under subsection 904 we’ll find what we are looking for, so if you want to double check me google Texas Transportation Code 201.904 , speed signs.

The text of this section reads: “The department shall erect and maintain on the highways and roads of this state appropriate signs that show the maximum lawful speed for commercial motor vehicles, truck tractors, truck trailers, truck semitrailers, and motor vehicles engaged in the business of transporting passengers for compensation or hire (buses).”

Where in their section under “speed signs” is the part that says those signs apply to the average person moving about the roads and highways in the personal vehicle? It doesn’t, and there in lays the problem, while the signs clearly don’t apply; we have been misled to believe that they do apply to us.

Thousands and thousands of speeding tickets are issued in Texas each year to people who have never taken the time to read what the code has written in it. We have assumed that they apply, because that is what we were led to believe by our parents and that “little booklet” the state was so kind to provide.

The sad part is that the police officers (policy enforcers) don’t have a clue either about what the code has written in it. I have asked several officers that I know in different law enforcement agencies about this and they had no clue as to what I was referring too. Most acknowledged that they wrote tickets for speeding based on the speed signs and other violations based on a “cheat sheet” provide to the department from the county or district attorney. The cheat sheet would have a basic violation description and a corresponding code number to fill in on the ticket.

The Texas district and county attorneys association even has in their handbook on traffic stops that, “driving faster than the speed limit is not an offense by itself”.

I haven’t had a speeding ticket in over twenty five years so why should I care? I care because each ticket written costs people time and money. If they go to court and fight the ticket, and in most cases they lose the fight, they end up wasting time and paying the fine too. Other people just elected to pay the fine and court costs without putting up a fight. Either way they have been falsely charged and robbed of their money when everything is said and done. To me it is just not right, the judges and the district attorney’s are using the police as their “thugs” to go out and rob people and bring them the loot from the robbery, to be split up among them and the state.

So, by now you are asking “so where does the insanity plea fit in?” It fits in like this, my friend James got a speeding ticket three weeks ago. His appearance date is early in January, at which time he will be asked to enter a plea to the charge of speeding. He was going 53mph in a 45mph zone; notice I didn’t say he speeding, the officer said he was speeding, the officer even signed the ticket under penalty of perjury, stating that James was speeding.

James is prepared to enter a plea of “not guilty by reason of insanity” because we have determined the officer, district attorney and the judge all must be insane if they think the speed limit sign applies to James.

James and I are both pretty sure the court won’t accept his plea, and will change the plea to “not guilty” and set the case for trial at a later date. Which is fine with James, he likes screwing with “the man” and I like helping him. A jury shouldn’t have any problem finding James not guilty should the case get that far. Personally, I believe that once James tells them that they (the court) are nuts, they will probably dismiss the ticket. Time will tell and I’ll let you know the outcome.

Until next time,
@sultnpapper
#unmentionables

Photo credits : @sultnpapper