Speed limit on Lakeville Highway set artificially low, defense claims in trial that could set legal precedent

An attorney for a young man challenging his speeding ticket with his own GPS data suggested Friday that the site where he was ticketed is an illegal speed trap.

Shaun Malone, 18, and his parents, Roger Rude and Karen Kahn of Windsor, are appealing a July 4, 2007, speeding ticket he received after police said their radar clocked him driving 62 mph in a 45 mph zone on Lakeville Highway east of Frates Road in Petaluma.

Rude, a retired Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department lieutenant, said if the speed limit was set artificially low — below what most reasonable drivers are traveling — it amounts to an illegal speed trap, which would invalidate Malone’s ticket and potentially hundreds of others given in the same area.

Malone’s parents installed a GPS device in his 2000 Toyota Celica GTS, over his objections, with the goal of encouraging him to drive safely. The device notes speed, time and location data every 30 seconds and records the information so his parents can monitor his driving activity.

But Rude said he told Malone if he ever got a speeding ticket and the GPS data supported him, he would support Malone in a challenge. They say their GPS data prove he was driving 45 mph at virtually the same time and place the officer said he clocked him speeding.

Read the rest of this entry »