Legal Question in Traffic Law in Wisconsin

Speed Limits in School Zones--Where Do They Begin?

As a matter of law, the government would need to prove that you exceeded legal limits while in that particular speed zone, not before it or after it; you should be found "not guilty" if otherwise. Exactly where a speed zone begins, however, is a potential source for legal controversy; is it at the sign or at the point when one can clearly see the sign? I have argued either way, both as a prosecutor and as a defense attorney, depending upon who my client at that moment in my career. Without researching the issue, I don't know whether there is a statute or case resolving this. I do know this much, however: any officer who ticketed you, as opposed to warning you, for going 31 miles per hour was either having a bad day or had an employer that really needed the money. However, I am assuming here that there were good driving conditions, daylight hours, and no pedestrians close to you at that time. Another issue is exactly where you were when you were clocked, assuming that you really know when you were clocked as opposed to taking a guess at it. Unless you had scientific equipment operating at the time or had a witness who was in the squad car with the officer, how could you really know? Personally (as opposed to legally), I believe that the driver should get the benefit of all doubts when it comes to something as unusually restrictive as a 15 MPH school zone speed limit; ticketing someone who is near the fringes of such a limit is in bad taste. These comments are not legal advice and you should discuss your case with your own attorney before deciding what to do. Any traffic attorney who is on relatively good professional terms with the prosecutor in that jurisdiction should be able to obtain a major reduction of this ticket for you, assuming that you otherwise have a clean record.