In Oregon, you see a yellow digital sign reading "ADVISORY SPEED 35." You are driving 45 mph and the surrounding posted limit is 55 mph. Which statement best describes your legal exposure?
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A.
Yellow advisory signs are only suggestions and carry no legal weight at all.
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B.
You can only be cited if your speed actually contributes to a crash.
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C.
An officer can cite you under the basic rule if your speed is unsafe for current conditions. Correct
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D.
You have exceeded the advisory speed by 10 mph, which is automatically a speeding ticket.
The answer is "An officer can cite you under the basic rule if your speed is unsafe for current conditions."
Yellow variable advisory speed signs are not enforceable as their own speed limit; they recommend a safe speed for current conditions like heavy traffic, poor weather, or a slippery road. Police may still enforce the advised speed through the basic rule, which requires a speed reasonable and cautious for existing conditions and applies on all roads at all times, with no crash required. D catches drivers who read the yellow advisory as an enforceable speed limit, though the manual is explicit that yellow advisory signs are not speed limits.
The traps in the wrong answers
A. Yellow advisory signs are only suggestions and carry no legal weight at all.
Although advisory signs are not speed limits, police may still enforce them through the basic rule when your speed is unsafe for conditions. This answer ignores the manual's note that police may enforce yellow advisory signs through the basic rule law.
B. You can only be cited if your speed actually contributes to a crash.
The basic rule applies on all roads at all times. An officer can cite you for an unsafe speed for conditions whether or not a collision occurs. This answer adds a crash requirement the basic rule does not have; the rule covers any unsafe speed for existing conditions, with or without a collision.
D. You have exceeded the advisory speed by 10 mph, which is automatically a speeding ticket.
Yellow advisory signs are not standalone speed limits, so going above the advisory number is not, by itself, a speeding violation. This answer treats the yellow advisory speed as an enforceable speed limit, but the manual says these are not speed limits.
This question tests your knowledge of Speed Limits in Oregon. Source: Oregon Driver Manual, "Speed Regulations: Variable Speed Signs," p.20..
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