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I was ticketed for driving 73mph in a 45mph zone. It was actually a 50mph zone according to Waze and an online map of NC speed limits. I screenshot both sources for proof. I also took a photo of the speed limit sign which is about a mile away from where I pulled over. Also, the officer stated on the citation that he clocked me at 8:42pm. Once the officer pulled me over, explained why he pulled me over and received my driver's license, I called home to explain why I was running late. According to my phone, I placed that call at 8:39 pm. I realize that isn't a huge discrepancy, but if the time stamp come from the officers radar gun, that might speak to the accuracy of the radar gun and how it was calibrated. In addition, the officer never mentioned how he tracked my speed. However, the citation reads R73M which I assume means radar 73 mph in motion. Aren't there inherent mistakes from radar readings while in motion? Finally, today I contacted the DA's office in inquire about a reduction. It seems the officer wrote the incorrect court date on the citation. I was asked to call back tomorrow once they have received the ticket from the officer to obtain the correct court date. Now, with all of these errors on the ticket should I get an attorney to have this reduced or dismissed? By the way, The sheriff's office will only release the video and the radar calibration to an attorney, not the general public.

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    Where I live ,signaled speed limits take precedence over anything on a map. I cannot imagine that this would be different in NC.
    – PMF
    Commented Jan 22 at 5:52

2 Answers 2

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What are speeding fines?

According to Harbinson Parker, the North Carolina speeding regime runs like this:

  • 1 to 5 mph over the limit: $10 fine
  • 6 to 10 mph over the limit: $15 fine
  • 11 to 15 mph over the limit: $25 fine
  • 16 to 20 mph over the limit: $100 fine
  • 21 to 24 mph over the limit: $150 fine
  • 25 mph or more over the limit: $250 fine

Running 73 in a 45 comes to 28 mph too fast, 73 in a 50 is 23 mph too fast. The difference here is $100 in fines. Atop that, that's in both cases faster than 15 mph over the limit, and so 4 driving points are always the case. And the 15 mph over the limit also can lead to up to 20 days jail time.

Is Waze a factor?

Waze is not the law, it is a database fed information by someone. But the law says that the speed limit is what is put up on signs next to the road and nothing else. Whatever Waze says is irrelevant to the speeding offense.

Are there substantial problems with the ticket?

The citation seems to have a discrepancy of something in the order of 3 minutes to OPs clock. This could indicate a lot of things: The clock of the officer might be running a few minutes early, the clock of OP might be running late, or both might be wrong. This would require a hearing and fighting the ticket to find out if that is big enough of a problem to invalidate the ticket.

The only way that the method for measuring is relevant is which tolerance the measurement has. That should show up on the final citation. Applying the wrong tolerance might get the ticket adjusted or thrown out, but that would, again, require fighting the ticket. R##M indicates a radar gun in motion on a car, which has a different tolerance from R##S (stationary) or R##B (Radar, in motion, backward). Whatever they clocked someone at actually will get adjusted with the tolerance to their benefit and then calculated as the ticket. For simplicity, running at a measured 100 mph with a 10% tolerance machine results in 90 mph being compared to the speed limit.

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It doesn't matter what Waze or online maps say the speed limit is, the speed limit is whatever the law says, which might be e.g. 45 at the location that you were tagged. It might be in the local ordinances, or the last sign that you passed. If you can prove that the actual limit was 50, that knocks 5 mph off the degree of law violation/

The exact time is irrelevant to the validity of the ticket.

You can hire an attorney to challenge the accuracy of the radar, which may be fruitful or futile, we really can't say. It's possible the device was not properly calibrated as required by law, but the 1-2mph inaccuracy of radar readings from a moving police car will not result in the ticket being thrown out.

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    You should add that even if Waze is right, the OP was still speeding.
    – Dale M ♦
    Commented Jan 22 at 6:35
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    "If you can prove that the actual limit was 50, that knocks 5 mph off the degree of law violation. The exact time is irrelevant to the validity of the ticket": in some jurisdictions, these faults in the citation would render it invalid. A lawyer from this part of North Carolina would know whether they have that effect there.
    – phoog
    Commented Jan 22 at 8:22
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    Challenging the rader reading may not have the desired effect. I've heard about a case where someone was charged at 29km/h over the limit with a 5km/h tolerance. He challenged the radar accuracy, but the result of the investigation showed that the radar was more precise than that. So he now was charged with 31km/h over the limit, and thus it was considered a crime.
    – PMF
    Commented Jan 22 at 12:07
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    As is so often the case with answers that don't discuss any actual laws, this answer is wrong in many ways. But the implied bottom line is correct: OP can spend a bunch of time and money fighting this, but nothing here gives much reason to believe he'll be successful.
    – bdb484
    Commented Jan 22 at 13:21

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