Seattle man ticketed for holding speed trap sign

SEATTLE- A man is in trouble with the law over a sign warning drivers of speed traps.

The man says he felt the need to warn drivers, so he took out his handmade sign to tell them police were around the corner handing out tickets.

Daniel Gehlke says he did nothing wrong, but police tell a different story.

Seattle police say the problem isn’t with alerting drivers, it’s the words on the sign which read “Cops ahead. Stop at sign and light.”

“The specific issue is that he was giving instructions to motorists through the words that he chose, like ‘slow down’ or ‘caution,'” said Sean Whitcomb with the Seattle Police Department.

“If I can help some people like not get ticketed and fined and bothered, you know it’s a good thing to do,” said Gehlke.

City code says any poster with things like “stop,” “slow,” or “turn” is against the law because it could be taken as regulating traffic.

Gehlke says he plan to fight the $138 violation.