AFCop wrote:This comment is based on......Odin wrote:Just wanted to point out that the police don't need to use radar to write speeding tickets.
The radar gun was invented in 1954.
The speeding ticket was invented long before 1954.
Maybe in 1954 you didn't need a RADAR Gun to write speeding tickets but in 2008 with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (the standards they have established) and case law from around the country (including federal courts (other than the SCOTUS) you most certainly do. Not only do you have to have the RADAR Gun but you must be trained in how to use it, that is right...any cop who hops in a cruiser and turns on the RADAR Gun without any training is wrong.
Bryan
Don't need a radar to write a ticket using TC 545.351. In court the officer will simply say "based on my training and experience, and considering the road and traffic conditions, I believed the violator's speed to be unsafe".
Even if a vehicle is travelling under the posted speed limit an officer can write a ticket for speeding if the conditions make it unsafe to travel at the posted speed limit. Speed limits are just that - the maximum speed limit.
Don't need a radar to pace a vehicle using the patrol car's speedometer.
Don't need a radar to clock a vehicle using a stopwatch and 2 known, fixed points of reference.
While radar and lidar are the most commonsly used methods for determining speed, there are other methods that police can, and do, use to ticket violators.
Of course everyone is entitled to contest any speeding ticket, radar or not. And many times (not most times, but it isn't rare either) a judge will dismiss a ticket, even if radar was used. That's up to the judge. There are no guaranteed tickets nor are there any guaranteed ways out of a ticket (unless you're a judge).