Missouri Excessive Speed Lawyers

Quick Reference for RSMo 304.010 Speeding

Element	Details
Classification	Class C misdemeanor (general violation); class B misdemeanor if 20+ mph over the posted limit
Class C penalty	Up to 15 days in jail; fine up to $750
Class B penalty	Up to 6 months in jail; fine up to $1,000
License points	Points added to your Missouri driving record; accumulation triggers suspension
Offender designation	None. Not a strike, not a dangerous felony, no prior/persistent enhancement
Common resolution	Amendment to a non-moving, non-point violation
Where heard	Municipal court where cited, or the circuit court for state-highway citations

What RSMo 304.010 actually covers

Section 304.010 is the statute that sets Missouri’s speed limits and makes exceeding them a crime. It is mostly a definitions-and-limits section. The offense itself sits in subsection 11.

“Any person violating the provisions of this section is guilty of a class C misdemeanor, unless such person was exceeding the posted speed limit by twenty miles per hour or more then it is a class B misdemeanor.” (§ 304.010.11, RSMo)¹

The statute sets uniform maximum limits where no lower posted limit controls: 70 mph on rural interstates and freeways, 65 on rural expressways, 60 on urban interstates and most other non-urban roads, and 55 on lettered state two-lane roads unless the Department of Transportation sets them higher.¹

One line in the statute does more work than any other. For enforcement, “it is a rebuttable presumption that the posted speed limit is the legal speed limit.”¹ Rebuttable means the presumption holds until the defense shows a reason it should not. That single word is where a real defense often starts.

What the State has to prove

To convict you of speeding, the prosecutor must prove each of the following beyond a reasonable doubt.

You operated a motor vehicle on a Missouri road or highway. The State has to place you behind the wheel of a specific vehicle at a specific place. This sounds automatic, but it is not. Where the observation was made from a distance, from an aircraft, or from an automated device, whether the State can actually prove you were the driver of the vehicle it measured is a live question.

You drove faster than the applicable limit. The State must establish the speed limit that applied and prove your speed exceeded it. Both halves matter. The limit depends on the posted signage and, where signage is absent, the uniform statutory limit for that class of road. The speed depends on a measurement, and a measurement depends on a device that was working and an officer trained to use it.

For a class B charge, you exceeded the posted limit by 20 mph or more. This is the element that separates the two tiers. Notice it keys to the posted limit, not the uniform statutory limit. Where the two differ, that distinction can decide whether you are facing a class C or a class B misdemeanor.

Miss the third element by a single mile per hour and the class B charge collapses into a class C. That is a materially different case.

The two tiers and why the gap matters

Speeding under this statute comes in two grades, and the line between them is exactly 20 miles per hour over the posted limit.

Class C misdemeanor — the base offense

Any violation of § 304.010 that does not clear the 20-mph margin is a class C misdemeanor. This is the ordinary speeding ticket: 10 over, 15 over, 19 over. The exposure is real but limited, and these cases almost always resolve without anyone seeing a jail cell.

Class B misdemeanor — 20 or more over the posted limit

Cross the posted limit by 20 mph or more and the charge elevates to a class B misdemeanor. The maximum jail exposure jumps from 15 days to six months, and the maximum fine rises from $750 to $1,000.

Here is the practical point most people miss. The class B elevation is written to the posted speed limit specifically. If the sign that set your limit was down, obscured, or inconsistent with the surrounding signage, the foundation for the 20-mph elevation is exactly what a defense targets. Knock the proven speed below the 20-over margin and the whole charge drops a tier.

The rebuttable-presumption doctrine

The single most important legal concept in a speeding case is buried in one clause of the statute. For enforcement purposes, the posted speed limit is presumed to be the legal speed limit, and that presumption is rebuttable.¹

In plain terms, the State gets to treat the number on the sign as the governing limit without separately proving that the sign was lawfully authorized and correctly posted. That is a convenience for the prosecution. But it is a presumption, not a fact, and a presumption can be met with evidence.

This matters most for the class B charge. Because the 20-mph elevation keys to the posted limit, the entire elevated charge rests on the assumption that the posted number was valid and visible. Signage that was missing, knocked down, turned, blocked by foliage, or contradicted by a nearby sign gives the defense a direct line at that presumption. If the posted limit itself is in doubt, the 20-over calculation built on top of it is in doubt too.

Most drivers never think to question the sign. In practice, the sign is often the weakest link in the State’s case.

Penalties and the consequences that follow

The jail and fine numbers are only part of the picture. For most drivers, the real cost of a speeding conviction is not the fine.

Circumstance	Classification	Jail	Fine
General violation of § 304.010	Class C misdemeanor	Up to 15 days	Up to $750
20+ mph over the posted limit	Class B misdemeanor	Up to 6 months	Up to $1,000

These jail and fine figures are the general statutory ranges for class C and class B misdemeanors under §§ 558.011 and 558.002, RSMo. Section 304.010 itself sets only the classification.² ³

License points are the consequence that actually hurts. A speeding conviction adds points to your Missouri driving record through the Department of Revenue point system. Points accumulate, and enough of them within a set period trigger suspension or revocation of your license.⁴ For someone who drives to work, that is the exposure that matters, not the fine.

Insurance follows the points. A moving-violation conviction on your record is visible to insurers and commonly raises premiums for years. The cost of the conviction outlasts the case by a long stretch.

Commercial drivers face separate rules. For a CDL holder, speeding at certain thresholds counts as a “serious traffic violation,” and two of them inside a set window can disqualify the license regardless of how minor the underlying tickets looked.⁵ A CDL speeding ticket is never routine, and it should never be paid without advice.

What a class C or class B speeding conviction does not carry is any offender designation. It is not a strike, not a crime of violence, and not subject to Missouri’s prior, persistent, or dangerous offender regime. Missouri has no three-strikes analog for a stand-alone speeding misdemeanor.

How these cases get defended

Speeding cases are won on documentation and on the record you protect, not on dramatic courtroom moments. The realistic goal in most cases is keeping points off your record. Here is where the work happens.

Rebut the posted-limit presumption. Because the posted limit is only presumed to be the legal limit, evidence that the signage was missing, obscured, downed, or inconsistent challenges the foundation of the charge. This is the most direct attack on a class B ticket, where the elevation is built entirely on the posted number.

Challenge the speed measurement. Radar and lidar readings depend on calibration, maintenance, and a properly trained operator. We request calibration records, tuning-fork verification logs, device maintenance history, and the officer’s certification and training. Say your reading came from a radar unit last calibrated outside the required window. A gap in that documentation undermines the number the entire case rests on.

Contest identity and operation. For observations made from a distance or by automated means, the State still has to prove you were the driver of the specific vehicle it clocked. That link is not always as clean as the citation suggests.

Attack the 20-mph threshold. Class B exposure exists only if you exceeded the posted limit by 20 or more. Reduce the proven speed below that margin and the charge drops to class C. Consider a driver cited at 20 over where the radar reading is soft by a few miles per hour. That gap is the difference between two grades of misdemeanor.

Negotiate an amendment to a non-point violation. This is the resolution that protects most drivers. Missouri prosecutors will often amend a speeding charge to a lesser, non-moving ordinance violation, such as a defective-equipment or illegal-parking offense, that carries no points. It keeps the conviction off your driving record where the points would otherwise land. This is the most common practical outcome, and it is where experience with the local prosecutor pays off.

Emergency-vehicle exception. The statute’s speed limits do not apply to a qualifying emergency vehicle as defined in § 304.022.¹ Where the driver was operating such a vehicle in that capacity, the limits themselves do not reach the conduct.

Necessity and genuine emergency. Where excessive speed was a response to a real medical or safety emergency, the circumstances can support mitigation or dismissal. This is fact-specific and depends on what actually happened.

Procedural and discovery defects. A missing officer at trial, a defective charging document, or a failure to produce discovery can support dismissal or a favorable disposition. These are unglamorous but often decisive.

Where your case will be heard

Where a St. Louis-area speeding ticket lands depends on who wrote it and where. A citation issued inside a municipality goes to that city’s municipal court, and St. Louis County alone has dozens of them. State-highway and unincorporated-area citations route to the St. Louis County Circuit Court for the 21st Judicial Circuit in Clayton. A ticket written inside the City of St. Louis proceeds through the City’s municipal division in the 22nd Judicial Circuit.

Local practice across these courts commonly favors amending speeding charges to a non-moving, non-point violation, negotiated with the municipal prosecutor. Knowing which court leans which way, and which prosecutor to talk to, is the difference between paying a ticket blind and resolving it in a way that protects your license.

Why work with us on a speeding charge

A speeding ticket looks small until the points land on your record and your insurer notices. We handle these cases throughout the St. Louis municipal courts and surrounding circuits, from ordinary class C tickets to class B charges built on a shaky posted limit, and for commercial drivers whose livelihood rides on the outcome. The work is in the details: the calibration records, the signage, the amendment that keeps points off your record. Contact us before you simply pay the ticket, and let us look at whether that number on the citation can be brought down.

Facing a speeding charge in St. Louis?

That ticket carries more than a fine. Points, insurance, and for some drivers a license itself are on the line, and the strongest position is the earliest one. Bring us the citation before your court date and we will review whether the charge can be amended, reduced, or contested.

Talk to our defense team about your speeding ticket.

References

1. § 304.010, RSMo [“Any person violating the provisions of this section is guilty of a class C misdemeanor, unless such person was exceeding the posted speed limit by twenty miles per hour or more then it is a class B misdemeanor.” Subsection 2(6): “it is a rebuttable presumption that the posted speed limit is the legal speed limit.” Subsection 9 provides the limits “shall not apply to the operation of any emergency vehicle as defined in section 304.022.”].

2. § 558.011, RSMo [imprisonment ranges: class B misdemeanor “a term not to exceed six months” (§ 558.011.1(7)); class C misdemeanor “a term not to exceed fifteen days” (§ 558.011.1(8))].

3. § 558.002, RSMo [fines: class B misdemeanor not to exceed “one thousand dollars” (§ 558.002.1(3)); class C misdemeanor not to exceed “seven hundred fifty dollars” (§ 558.002.1(4))].

4. § 302.302, RSMo [Missouri Department of Revenue point system for driving-record violations].

5. § 302.700 et seq., RSMo [commercial driver’s license “serious traffic violation” provisions].