Replies

Yes, it IS long - so you'd think that the author would have had the time and space to tell us just what, precisely, was illegal about those speed limit signs. And it would have been a lot more informative if he had detailed the day-to-day practices of New Rome police - PLUS, it would be a help to know WHERE New Rome is, if it's a suburb of anything, and what highways go thru it. It MUST be on SOME highways - were it isolated out in the middle of nowhere, everyone for miles around would be hip to the program and wouldn't even go there.

Michael

I can't speak for Ohio, but in many states, any traffic control device (that includes speed signs) requires a traffic engineering study justifying the control device. This just follows from common law: the law requires a good reason to impede your free travel. Most roads are designed to handle certain speeds safely. We pay good money for road widths, surface smoothness, banked turns, hill cuts, reflective striping, etc. A traffic control study needs to justify when the speed limit is reduced below the design speed of the road. Most speed signs are placed without this requirement. This may sound like a way to reduce burdensome bureaucracy, but in fact many speed reductions contribute to accidents, reduced traffic flow, and make the money spent on top grade road designs a big waste. I suspect this may the basis for the 'illegality' of many speed trap zones.