Traffic Lights, Signs and Controls: Ticketed for Failing to Stop at a Stop Sign That Was Bent, Old and Faded

My question involves a traffic ticket from the state of New York.

I was given a ticket for going through a stop sign that was bent, old and very faded. There were 2 officers which were clearly visible in the lot near the stop sign. When both officers pulled me over I asked why I was being stopped and the officer said I blew right through the stop sign and my response was "what stop sign?" After the ticket was received I went back to take photos of the stop sign which was old and faded and very difficult to see at the time of day in question. It was 6:30pm in the evening on an overcast day with the sun setting behind the stop sign.

Now for the surprise. Tomorrow is my court date as I have already gone through the plea bargaining process and declined the plea bargain. So today I went back to take some additional photos of the stop sign and would you believe they replaced it with a brand new stop sign. I clearly believe this works in my favor as the stop sign obviously was difficult to see and clearly needed to be replaced.

Here are links to images before and after the sign was replaced. I will be bringing both of these time stamped photos to court tomorrow.

http://ift.tt/2f89nyF
http://ift.tt/2dLhLxO

However the main reason for my post is that I would like to site any New York traffic laws regarding signs that are old, broken or not clearly visible but I can not find such laws.

Thank you for any help in advance.

Sincerely,

Robert Staskowski

Traffic Lights, Signs and Controls: Ticketed for Failing to Stop at a Stop Sign That Was Bent, Old and Faded