The MUTCD (Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices) standard requires a speed zone to be marked with, at minimum, one sign located at the beginning of the zone. That same imaginary line across the road is also accepted by the courts as the boundary of the zone.
On roads with higher speed limits, having one or more additional signs upstream of the location is also recommended, particularly when topography or other barriers dangerously limit sightlines. If the road's not properly marked and the distance too short to decelerate in time, you've got a legal out.
That sounds like it might be the case in your instance. You may consider pleading not guilty, requesting a trial (by jury, if possible) and start using the public safety/criminal justice juggernaut's bureaucracy to your advantage.
With good preparation, you can win. And you'd avoid attorney fees that could easily run to several hundred dollars. If your record is less than pristine, you'd also be paying about the same bucks for three years of insurance surcharges.
I’d also suggest getting a certified copy of the most current traffic survey on the road in question. You can do this by filing a Public Record Request, a simple matter.
In the survey you’re looking for the most recent speed survey on that road. It should include median speed, 85th percentile speed and 10 mph pace speed. State law requires every municipality to conduct periodic speed surveys, to justify the posted speed limit. But many don’t bother.
If they don't have the survey, the posted limit is invalid. If the cops have been running a speed trap there for a long time without the speed survey having been done, by stopping and citing a citizen, they're committing a felony: extortion, under color of authority. (Translation: give me the money or I'll arrest you.)
And in California, among other states, multiple episodes like yours, done over a period of years, constitute a violation of the federal RICO Act. (LA attorney Ernie Franschesci, in 1990, sued the city of Huntington Beach in a class action, precisely this way for $60 million.)
Good luck.
Craig
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