Michigan Cities thwart speed trap ban

Interesting secondary effect of a poor economy and municipal governments seeking revenue. I know that this is not related to specifically to cameras but I did not see a section for speed traps or fuzzy speed limits.

---
Last Updated: July 26. 2010 1:00AM .Cities thwart speed trap ban
Legislation would have forced communities to conduct traffic studies
George Hunter / The Detroit News
Lansing -- A fight over whether communities are required to obey a 4-year-old law could affect speed limits throughout Michigan -- and remove what one legislator called "speed traps" throughout the state.

The law, passed in 2006, spells out how speed limits must be set, but the statute is being ignored by most communities in Michigan, according to State Police officials.

One lawmaker who tried to introduce legislation in May that would have required communities to conduct the studies needed to set those limits said his efforts have been thwarted by what he called "special interests" who want to keep speed limits low in order to collect revenue from speeding tickets.

"There are speed traps throughout Michigan on roads where the speed limits are artificially low," said state Rep. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge.

"A lot of communities don't want to lose that ticket revenue."

The law, Public Act 85, requires speed limits to be established by counting the number of driveways and cross streets -- called "access points" -- in a half-mile area; or by conducting a traffic study and setting the limit by the 85th percentile of free-flowing traffic, meaning the speed at which 85 percent of drivers are traveling during the study.

If those two methods are not used, a 55-mph limit applies by default, except in some cases such as business districts or subdivisions.

But opponents of the law say it is vaguely worded, and insist communities do not need to follow it.

"There's nothing in the public act that specifically says communities must do these studies and change their speed limits," said Chris Hackbarth, a lobbyist for the Michigan Municipal League, an organization that represents cities, townships and villages throughout the state.

Because the law is clear on how speed limits must be set, tickets written on stretches of road that have not been studied may be invalid, said Michigan State Police 1st Lt. Thad Peterson, commanding officer of the Traffic Services Section.

"The speed limit sign only has the authority of the law," Peterson said. "The mere presence of a sign is not the law; there must be a law to back it up. Otherwise, you've just got a number on a sign that doesn't mean anything."

Jones, a police officer for 31 years, said his proposed legislation, House Bill 6165, would have cleared up any misunderstanding by requiring communities to conduct speed studies or use the access point formula.

Jones said he met in May with the House Urban Policy Committee to discuss the proposed legislation.

"It never even got to a vote," he said. "The Michigan Municipal League did everything they could to stop it.

"This has been the law for four years, but all these city attorneys keep saying there's a gray area, but they don't want to fix it, because there's a lot of money to be made from writing tickets in speed traps," said Jones, who drafted the bill with state Rep. Bettie Cook Scott, D-Detroit. "Our legislation would have cleared up that gray area."

Steve Purdy, head of the National Motorists Association Michigan chapter, said he doesn't understand the confusion.

"The law sounds pretty clear to me: In order to justify a speed limit, you have to do a study," he said. "And if they don't do it, they can't enforce that speed limit. I don't see what's unclear about that."

Jones said he plans to reintroduce the bill "after a few tweaks."

Hackbarth said ticket revenue has nothing to do with his opposition to the law, which he said contains "huge flaws."

"The basic premise of PA 85 is that the only factor in setting a speed limit is how many access points there are, or how fast people are driving during a speed study," he said. "We disagree with that. Communities should have a say in how their speed limits are set. That's a quality of life issue."

Hackbarth also said the law constitutes an unfunded mandate. "Under the Headlee Amendment, if the state is going to pass a law that cost money, funding has to follow that," he said.

Brig Smith, city attorney for Lansing, which is conducting speed studies throughout the city, said they require "a fair amount of resources."

"Our transportation department and engineers are doing the studies," he said.

But Peterson said speed studies could be conducted by counting just 100 cars. "That's enough to give you a good idea how fast people are driving," he said.

After The Detroit News published a story in April reporting that most Metro Detroit communities were not in compliance with Public Act 85, several readers said they planned to fight their speeding tickets, claiming the speed limits were not properly set.

Among them is Michael Noe of Canton Township. Noe, 41, said he was driving home from work on May 27 when an officer pulled him over on Michigan Avenue near 4th Street and ticketed him for driving 40 mph in a 35 mph zone.

Noe is challenging the ticket.

"I'm fighting this, because there's no way that speed limit can be right," said Noe. "The last time they did a speed study on that part of Michigan was 1979, so they're not in compliance with the public act."

The 29th District Court magistrate ruled against Noe during a hearing last month. He is awaiting a court date.

"They told me I could just pay $150 and they'd give me an impeding traffic ticket," he said. "But that's just another way of putting money in their pockets."