Opinion ID: 1164260
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Speed Limit Instruction

Text: The trial court instructed the jury that the speed limit on C and Dunbar was 30 miles per hour. [1] The court's instruction was based on Title 13, § 02.275 of the Alaska Administrative Code. [2] Plaintiffs contend that the applicable law is contained in § 7.303 of the Fairbanks Code of Ordinances which sets the speed limit at 20 miles per hour. [3] AS 28.01.010 [4] states that the provisions of Title 28 (Motor Vehicles) are applicable within all municipalities of the state and that a municipality may not enact an ordinance inconsistent with provisions of the title or regulations adopted under the title. Although AS 28.01.010(b) provides that a municipality may enact necessary ordinances to meet specific local requirements, a municipality cannot enact an ordinance which conflicts with state-wide traffic rules and regulations. Adkins v. Lester, 530 P.2d 11, 14-15 (Alaska 1974). Clearly, Fairbanks' 20 mile per hour speed limit is valid only if it is in conformance with state-wide traffic statutes and regulations. 13 AAC 02.280-285 authorizes municipalities to decrease or increase the speed limits specified in the Administrative Code and further provides that the altered limits are effective when signs giving notice thereof are erected. [5] Signing, therefore, is a condition precedent to the effectiveness of Fairbanks' 20 mile per hour speed limit. Although several witnesses testified that they understood the speed limit on C and Dunbar Streets to be 20 miles per hour, there was no evidence that 20 mile-per-hour speed limit signs were erected in Hamilton Acres, the residential area where the accident occurred. [6] Likewise, there was no evidence that general speed limit signs were posted elsewhere in Fairbanks indicating that the speed limit on all non-arterial streets was to be 20 miles per hour. Since speed limit signs were not posted, the trial court did not err in instructing the jury that the applicable speed limit was the state-wide limit of 30 miles per hour. [7] Contrary to plaintiffs' assertion, the presumption that a municipal ordinance has been validly enacted cannot be relied upon to prove that an altered speed limit has been posted where the effectiveness of the reduced limit is specifically conditioned upon posting. [8]