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Lawyer Dad Outsmarts Speed Limits For A Decade, Then BC Has To Rewrite The Law

by Annie Nguyen
December 4, 2025
in Social Issues

Every once in a while, someone stumbles across a rule that has been sitting in plain sight for decades, waiting for the right mind to exploit it. These moments can be entertaining, especially when they involve the kind of everyday situations we all deal with, like getting pulled over for speeding.

In this story, the original poster describes how his father managed to sidestep countless tickets during a major national transition. What started as a practical shortcut turned into a personal system that worked far too well for far too long.

According to the poster, it even pushed officials to make permanent changes so nobody else could take advantage of it. Scroll down to see how one detail on the roadway made all the difference.

A lawyer keeps beating speeding tickets using a loophole no one expected to matter

Lawyer Dad Outsmarts Speed Limits For A Decade, Then BC Has To Rewrite The Law
not the actual photo

How my father got out of so many speeding tickets they had to change the law?

My father has been a lawyer here in BC, Canada for more than 30 years.

When he was starting out in his 30's he was hustling hard to support a stay-at-home wife and me, his young son.

As he was very much a type "a" personality with not much patience, he sped on the highways often.

And he got speeding tickets, often.

However, he took every single one to court and had every single one overturned. The reason was quite simple.

At the time Canada was in the process of switching over from Imperial MPH to Metric KPH

and all of the road signs had to be replaced.

Now the BC legal code specified that a "road sign" was legally comprised of two signs on a pole.

SEE BELOW FOR A BETTER EXPLANATION OF THE WAY THE SIGNS LOOKED

Apparently at some point someone in charge of replacing all the signs with the new metric ones decided

that they could save a considerable amount of money by printing all the information on ONE sign.

But this no longer complied with the specifics of the legal code.

So he would go back to the exact sign that he was ticketed because of and take a picture of it,

and then bring the picture to court along with a copy of the laws in question.

His defense was very simple. He would allow the arresting officer to take the stand

and give his testimony regarding the issue of the ticket, and then show the officer the picture he took

and ask them to identify whether that was the sign that he had sped past.

They always agreed saying that it was in fact the very same sign.

He thanked them and then dismissed them with no further questions.

He would then bring the picture to the judge along with the bookmarked page of the BC Highway Act

and present the judge with the exact wording of the law,

followed by his factual argument that since there was only a single sign posted,

it did not constitute a legal "road sign" as defined in the Highway Act.

As I said before, every single ticket was dismissed and all my dad lost was a half an hour of his time.

This worked for almost a decade, with him overturning literally thousands of dollars of speeding tickets

until the law was changed. He still speeds btw.

TL;DR bureaucrat cuts costs on road signs but they no longer fit the legal definition

so my dad sped like a f__king m__man for years with 0 consequences.

EDIT: an explanation from a friendly Redditor as my telling of this story was from a recollection of several years ago:

I'm old enough to remember when Ontario put the new signs up.

At that time, they were a white sign with black lettering that said "MAXIMUM" up top,

 

the speed in (obviously) giant font below that, and then, on a separate piece of metal below that,

same width as the above sign but 1/4 the height, with black background and white text, "km/h".

Maybe that's where the "two signs" part comes from.

Over the years, the two signs were merged to become one piece of metal,

and appeared to be two because the sign shop drew outlines around both parts of it as it had been

when it was two.  from u/Jay911

It is a common human experience that rules, no matter how strict, only work when they are clear; ambiguity creates opportunities for those who pay attention to the smallest details to act in ways others might never imagine.

Ambiguity in rules often exposes the tension between intent and implementation, reminding us that structure alone does not guarantee compliance.

In this story, the father’s repeated success in contesting speeding tickets was more than simple avoidance; it was a deliberate response to a legal and bureaucratic inconsistency.

He recognized that, during Canada’s switch from miles per hour to kilometers per hour, the new signs did not comply with the legal definition of “road sign” under the BC Highway Act. Psychologically, his actions reflect a combination of analytical reasoning, procedural confidence, and a type “A” personality’s impatience with delays.

The thrill of intellectual challenge is intertwined with habitual speed, revealing both curiosity and a subtle playfulness with authority.

From a fresh perspective, while many drivers would accept the ticket as a nuisance, the father treated the legal system as a puzzle to be solved.

Gender and experiential perspectives often shape how such situations are interpreted: some might see exploiting a loophole as manipulative, while others see it as leveraging knowledge to correct a system oversight. His actions highlight how legal literacy can transform personal stakes into methodical problem-solving, rather than mere evasion.

Expert insight reinforces this view. Dr. Kendra Cherry, a psychologist specializing in decision-making, explains that “people tend to respond to rule ambiguity with strategic reasoning, especially when personal stakes are involved.”

Ambiguity prompts thoughtful analysis and careful evidence-gathering, which can lead to outcomes that respect the system’s structure even when exploiting its technical gaps.

More broadly, the summary of decision‑making processes on Psychology Today explains that our choices are shaped by a mix of logic, emotion, memory, and bias, especially under uncertainty.

Applying this insight to the story, the father’s approach was not reckless or purely self-serving. By meticulously documenting the signage and referencing the legal code, he acted within the law while using his understanding of procedure to achieve consistent results.

His victories illustrate that knowledge, preparation, and careful reasoning can ethically navigate complex systems.

Let’s dive into the reactions from Reddit:

These Redditors shared examples of how strict legal rules or faulty signs can void tickets

UEMcGill − I got a friend who works as a traffic investigator for a county.

That's literally the subject of his job. "Is the sign lawful? " Things like is it the proper distance from the last sign?

If it's a speed change does it give proper warning?

If it's a stop light is it visible for a certain distance approaching the intersection.

He said if I ever got a ticket to ask as part of a discovery motion to have the road investigated.

He said there's almost always something wrong with the signs versus what's required.

subtleglow87 − My dad got out of speeding tickets for years in the same area all

because tree branches were somewhat blocking the sign.

The sign was still absolutely readable but there was a law stating that the sign had to be 100% unobstructed.

When the city decided they were over his shenanigans and cut back the tree,

he did what any reasonable person would do.

Took a latter out there and took a picture of the sign from above so it looked like it was still obstructed. T

he judge asked him how he could possibly not be aware of the speed limit after being stopped there so many times.

My dad's reply was that was hardly the point, the law was very clear. Got out of that ticket too.

Veritas3333 − There was an issue like this in the US with construction zones a decade or so ago.

They made a s__t ton of orange speed limit signs for use in construction zones.

Then someone pointed out in court that the MUTCD specifically says that

speed limit signs must be black numbers on a white background.

A bunch of tickets for speeding in construction zones got thrown out.

Now the speed limit signs are big orange signs, with white rectangle in the middle with the speed limit.

So it's both an orange construction sign, and a speed limit sign that's black on white.

tcarlson65 − The bureaucrat was not lazy. He did his job and save taxpayer dollars.

The part that messed them up was the lack of communication between the department in charge of signage,

the lawmakers in charge of keeping the laws updated, and the courts responsible for enforcing the laws.

The bureaucrat was jumping the gun and sounds like someone we need working in government.

Usually someone will come up with an idea, a law or change in laws will be proposed,

lawmakers will pass the law or change, then the law or change will be enforced or acted upon.

[Reddit User] − One time they were switching the road signs around here

because they had lowered the speed limit for a considerable chunk of the highway.

Apparently they weren't paying very close attention

because one side of the road was 55 mph and the other side was 45 mph.

The kicker was that on the 45 mph side there was still a yellow caution sign

advising you to "slow down" to 50 mph for the turn.

After calling the traffic department and complaining about this

I was told that a whole bunch of speeding tickets had to be tossed out

because even the officers couldn't figure out what the speed limit was supposed to be,

and they assured me it absolutely wasn't supposed to be different on each side of the road.

About a week later they fixed the signs after months of it being this way.

I assume I wasn't the only one that called

and the state police complaining added a bit of "oh s__t we better fix this" to the equation.

This group criticized the dad’s actions as selfish, risky, or overly time-consuming

pghpride − I can't imagine judges taking kindly to this.

Bubbaluke − This is pretty clever, but theres no way the time he saved speeding outweighed the thousands of trips

he had to take to the sign and then to court.

He probably wasted days of his life doing this

Manderelli − So he sped, risking injury or death, but saved time.

He was ticketed repeatedly, fighting every ticket in court to avoided fees, costing him only time.

Seems like a lot of effort for nothing in the end.

killbot5000exe − Dads a d__k. He was wrong just good at it.

VymI − Your dad sounds kinda like a f__king d__k. Don't speed.

[Reddit User] − It would have been cool if your dad just stopped speeding instead.

This legal joyride of a story shows how one tiny oversight can snowball into years of courtroom chaos. Some admired the father’s sharp eye for detail; others felt he pushed cleverness a little too far. But the underlying message still hits: systems only work when their parts match.

Do you think the dad was simply smart for using the law as written, or did he exploit the system at everyone’s expense? And honestly, would you have done the same? Drop your thoughts below!

Annie Nguyen

Annie Nguyen

Hi, I'm Annie Nguyen. I'm a freelance writer and editor for Daily Highlight with experience across lifestyle, wellness, and personal growth publications. Living in San Francisco gives me endless inspiration, from cozy coffee shop corners to weekend hikes along the coast. Thanks for reading!

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