Get caught speeding and don't be surprised if the state throws the book at you.

Bring that book with you to court, however, and you might find the authorities struggling to explain their actions.

That's the tactic Marlboro's Neil Licht used to make his $50 speeding ticket go away. "I got tagged for speeding in the Fast Lane at the 128 exit," said Licht, who doesn't dispute doing 25 in the 15 mph zone of the Pike's automatic toll lane.

He also doesn't fault the state trooper who pulled him over.

"He was doing what he was supposed to do," he said.

What he did have a problem with was how the speed was posted, on square yellow signs, roughly 18 x 18 inches, emblazoned with the Fast Lane's Fleet Bank logo.

"The notification to slow down to 15 mph is so totally unclear it's almost most impossible to comprehend," he said.

If it sounds like Licht is stretching for a way to claim he didn't see the signs, he's not the only one complaining about them.

"I think they're very unclear. It's not like a normal white sign with black lettering," said Elena Jakubiak of Boston, also pinched for speeding through the lane.

More important than their ideas of sign aesthetics are the standards in the federal Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, which says speed signs must be black and white and 24 x 30 inches. A former highway sign salesman, Licht knows the book well.

"If you check into the MUTCD, you'll find the signs' color and size do not conform. Yellow is (the color for) a warning sign. It's not a regulatory sign," he said.

Armed with snapshots of the Fast Lane signs and pages from the MUTCD's online edition (http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/), Licht headed to court.

"The clerk magistrate agreed with me. Then something strange happened. The cop said, `We appeal,' " said Licht, wondering if that qualified as double jeopardy.

We'll let the constitutional scholars figure out that one, as well as the legal standing of his summons, signed by a magistrate who had been dead for two years.

"The state hasn't gotten around to updating it yet," said a Waltham District Court clerk.

Eventually, a second, living judge did hear the appeal. He also sided with Licht. "He said, `I know the words "Fast Lane" implies fast, but please slow down,' " Licht said.

As for the Pike, spokesman Bob Bliss said he wasn't aware of the case. But after consulting with its lawyers, the agency is changing the signs, beginning yesterday.

Delighted with that news, Licht wondered if he was the only one to challenge the signs.

"What would it cost if (the Pike) had to go back to refund all that ticket money?" he said.

Who knows? They'd probably just sign for it.

Got a commuting gripe? Write to the Roads Scholar at onyourside@bostonherald.com.

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