Speeding case could cost town thousands

EDGEWOOD, N.M. (KRQE) - A woman’s fight to beat a speeding ticket could end up costing the town she got it in a lot of money.

Since 2002 the speed limit signs along residential streets in Edgewood have read 25 mph, and until three weeks ago no one thought twice about it.

“We had a defendant, Donna Woods, who had brought in a statute citing that required traffic engineering studies and documentation of the road conditions in order to establish speed limits other than the statute,” said Edgewood Town Administrator Karen Mahalick.

Woods was fighting a speeding ticket; her defense was that she should not have to pay it because the posted speed was too low.

“The statute stipulates 30 mph for residential and business areas unless it’s a school zone,” Mahalick said.

The only way to stray from state law is to have a traffic study done that supports the need for a lower speed limit.

The town of Edgewood has not done any studies on its more than 70 miles of roads.

Mahalick believes there are hundreds of 25 mph speed limit signs.

She said the town is now considering its options.

“We are in the process of trying to either replace the speed limit signs, re-skin the speed limit signs or we will turn around and do traffic studies on designated roads,” said Mahalick.

Those three options are not cheap.

Re-facing the signs runs about $20 a pop, replacing them will cost double that, plus all the labor.

“It’s going to take some manpower away from what they generally do,” Mahalick said. "We’re considering bringing on additional help to do this."

News 13 tried contacting the woman who started all this but did not hear back from her. Her fines for that ticket were dropped.

Mahalick said it does not know yet how this will affect any old speeding cases, but that the judge has asked the New Mexico Municipal League to take up the issue at its next meeting.

The town thinks it will take about six months to change all the signs to 30 miles per hour.

In the meantime cops will not go after drivers for speeding on those streets unless they are doing more than 30 mph.