The plaintiff, Armen Meliksetyan, presented arguments and evidence to the court insisting that 100 meters away from the intersection of Roubinyants and Sevak Streets there is a road sign that limits the maximal 40 km/h speed. The speed had gotten recorded by a stationary speed recorder, and the plaintiff was fined 4 times after exceeding it.
As it was revealed afterwards, the sign was covered by branches of a tree, and Armen Meliksetyan could see it only if he initially knew where it was placed. The plaintiff had appealed the decisions in superiority order but received no satisfaction.
The Administrative Court commenced proceedings and found out that there really were trees on the above mentioned streets which resulted in the driver’s inability to notice the sign.
According to the 18th paragraph of the appendix 2 of the RA Government’s 1699-N decree from 26.10.2006, the signs are to be placed in such a way that doesn’t disturb the vehicles in traffic, the signs placed at the edges of roads or sidewalks must not interfere with pedestrians’ traffic, must be visible (both at light and dark hours of the day), must not be covered by any subjects hindering the view (advertisements, green saplings, tree branches, external lighting columns, etc.), and drivers must notice them with ease and in time.
The court decided to meet plaintiff Armen Meliksetyan’s claim and declare the decisions of the RA Road Police invalid.
The RA Road Police afterwards filed a cassation appeal to invalidate the verdict on meeting Armen Meliksetyan’s claim. The Administrative Court of Appeal returned the appeal leaving the decision unchanged. The attempt of the Road Police to alter the verdict through The Court of Appeal went in vain.
