Saldus driver claims speeding near kindergarten was actually the 'safer' choice

On a snowy morning in the Latvian town of Saldus, a driver traveled along an uncleared road section marked with a 30 km/h speed limit, located close to a kindergarten. Instead of slowing down as required by the sign, the driver did not reduce his speed at all.

When stopped and cited for the violation, the man attempted to justify his behavior with an unusual explanation. He claimed that maintaining a higher speed was actually the only way to prevent his car from skidding in the slushy snow and potentially causing a serious accident. In essence, he tried to convince authorities that driving slower under those conditions would have been more dangerous than breaking the speed limit.

Argument rejected

Despite the driver's elaborate reasoning about road physics and vehicle behavior on slippery surfaces, both the police and, later, the court concluded that this was simply a traffic violation. The speed limit in that particular spot exists precisely for safety reasons — it is near a kindergarten where children may be present, and on that winter morning the road had not been cleared of snow.

The case illustrates that even a creative, physics-based justification does not change the fact that posted speed limits must be obeyed, regardless of a driver's personal opinion about the safest way to handle winter road conditions.