If you are going to get a ticket, your best bet is on the
Ohio Turnpike, as it has to follow the Federal laws and not Ohio's laws. That
means the speed limit should be set to the 85 percentile speed for the limit
(note it already does not follow the statutory speed limit of 65mph). That
means it should be posted around 80 mph or higher. You would be best served to
move to the Federal District court and then I'd tell you all of the laws to
cite and show the last speed survey the state of Ohio has taken for the
turnpike, plus who to subpoena...
The Federal MUTCD states you must post the speed limit at
the higher of the state's statutory speed limit or the 85 percentile of speeds
from a traffic and engineering survey, whichever is lower... Basically if the
state of Ohio were to try and say the statutory speed limit is 65 mph and you
were exceeding the posted speed limit of 70 mph, they have two defenses:
- The 70 mph speed limit is illegal for being in excess of 65 mph, which means no valid speed limit was posted -- this would nullify the speeding infraction.
- The 70 mph speed limit is legal because it is posted by the Ohio Turnpike Commission... your defense is this is not posted according to the US Federal regulations of the MUTCD by using the 85th percentile top speed rounded up to the nearest 5th or 10th of a mile per hour. Surveys already exist from ODOT and the Ohio State Highway Patrol showing the 85th percentile as 80 mph for cars from 2005 (already out of date, since it is supposed to be taken every 5 years). Please read Title 23 CFR sections supporting the MUTCD.
Either way, the speed limit as posted is invalid, unless
they have a traffic and engineering safety traffic survey taken within the last
5 years showing that 70 mph is the 85th percentile speed on the Ohio
Turnpike. However, to avoid the fight,
use a radar detector and your eyes to watch for the traffic cops.
