Liberty Van driver beats $56 ticket

By ASSOCIATED PRESS

11 years ago

Smoking and guns advocate Lynda Farley stands outside her minivan, dubbed the “Liberty Van,” in Belvidere, N.J. Farley, 62, of Edmonton, Ky., fought a $56 ticket issued in September 2012 by New Jersey State Police for having an obstructed view. On Tuesday, a judge in New Jersey Superior Court ruled she shouldn’t have gotten a ticket for having an obstructed view. The judge decided Farley’s view through the windshield wasn’t hindered by the political signs and figurines that cover her van. (AP Photo/The Express-Times, Matthew Bultman)

BELVIDERE, N.J. — A Kentucky woman whose van is plastered with political signs and trinkets has won a costly fight to have a $56 traffic ticket tossed in New Jersey.

A New Jersey judge Tuesday said she wouldn’t want her grandchildren walking behind Lynda Farley’s so-called Liberty Van because of its blind spots and lack of view out the rearview mirror. But the judge said a string of flowers bordering the windshield hadn’t unduly interfered with Farley’s vision and threw out the obstructed-view citation.

Farley lives in Edmonton, Ky. She was ticketed heading home last year from New York’s Sept. 11 commemoration.

She made the 800-mile drive back to northwestern New Jersey several times to fight the fine. She tells the Easton, Pa., newspaper The Express-Times it was worth it to protect her free-speech right.