A Seattle man fought his speeding ticket and won because a judge agreed this sign was too wordy to be effective.
Jason Canfield received the speeding ticket in May 2016. Canfield told The Seattle Times he saw the flashers on Delridge Way Southwest too late to decelerate to 20 mph, the school-area speed limit. The time was 9:14 a.m., or 21 minutes before the start of class at Louisa Boren STEM K-8 school, and Canfield recalled seeing no children along the street, according to a report from The Times' Mike Lindblom.
Initially the Seattle municipal court upheld the fine, but Canfield took the case to King County Superior Court, where the decision was reversed.
Read more on the decision here.
“I have an 8-year-old daughter, and I’m not in favor of speeding in school zones,” Canfield told Lindblom, adding that he suggests the Seattle Department of Transportation install stronger advance-warning signs. “To make it so people pay fines unintentionally, that’s dishonest.”