Wisconsin Appeals Court ruling overturns speeding tickets based on federal speed limit sign regulations.

A Wisconsin Court of Appeals judge issued a ruling earlier this month in favor of a defendant who argued his speeding ticket was invalid because a municipality failed to comply with federal rules. Motorist John Klos said that he did not deserve a ticket for driving 37 MPH in a 25 MPH zone on River Street, the main road through the city of Spooner. Klos had measured every sign posted on that street and found each was either too short or too close to the curb, failing to meet national standards set by the federal Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). Under Wisconsin law, the speed limit is invalid if the signs are not posted in the correct position.

“On state trunk highways… speed limits specified [as 25 MPH zones] are not effective unless official signs giving notice thereof have been erected by the authority in charge of maintenance of the highway in question,” Wisconsin Statutes Section 346.57 states.

The city countered Klos by saying that the speed limit signs were, in fact, properly posted according to Wisconsin standards. Municipal and circuit court judges agreed, ruling that federal rules did not apply to Spooner and that the city was well within its rights to issue citations even if the signs had “minor deviations” from federal standards. Appellate Judge Edward R. Brunner found that the lower courts misinterpreted state law, which explicitly incorporates the provisions of the federal manual.

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