Montgomery County thought it had Coleen Hanna dead to rights. There she was, caught on camera Aug. 6 in Silver Spring, flagrantly violating the speed limit in her sporty BMW.
The problem: Hanna, who lives in Edgewater and works in the Baltimore area, doesn't drive a BMW. She was certain she was nowhere near Montgomery County on that day. And the car in the photograph accompanying the speeding ticket looked nothing like her Ford Focus.
Nevertheless, Hanna was charged with being the driver with tag No. GZS 764 who was speeding through the streets of Silver Spring. The Montgomery speed enforcement folks traced that number to her, and they wanted their $40 pronto.
But hold on. Hanna said those tags had expired in March after she replaced them with agricultural plates. And as she examined the license plate photo, she noticed that the number that Montgomery officials decided was a 7 wasn't all that clear. Hanna asked the Motor Vehicle Administration to check for BMWs with similar numbers, and the agency found one sporting the tag GZS 364. (MVA folks don't get many strokes, but Hanna said they were nothing but helpful in providing the documents she sought.)
Hanna was less fortunate in dealing with the Montgomery Safe Speed Program. She sent a letter explaining her situation, along with the documentation, hoping to avoid a trip to that county. The result:
"The letter I sent was ignored," she said. "Instead I was given a date and time for a hearing."
It would have been easier for Hanna to just pay the $40 rather than take a day off work and pay the costs in gas and parking to go to Silver Spring, But she didn't think that would be right - even though no points were involved.
"I felt if I did, it was a lack of integrity," she said. "I would be saying I was in Montgomery County speeding that day, and that would be a lie."
So on Nov. 11, Hanna schlepped down to the District Court in Silver Spring to answer the charge. The judge examined her evidence and asked the Safe Speed representatives in the courtroom to squint at it, too. They agreed a blunder had been made in interpreting the photo. Case dismissed.
Maurice R. Nelson, director of automatic traffic enforcement for the Safe Speed Program, apologized to Hanna after her trial. He said he was embarrassed by his office's handling of the case and added that there have been "repercussions" as a result.
