Pacing Laws?
05-18-2005, 11:54 AM
#16
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Originally Posted by Heavy Dan
Anyone know the laws of when a cop paces a car? Is there a distance from the car for which he must travel.... etc...?
Originally Posted by shadowcat
that's pretty easy to fight in court, though.. so a lot of cops still have to justify it with some other means of measurement, such as pacing or radar. They can justify FOLLOWING a driver if they LOOK like they are speeding, but they have to verify it by pacing, or, if there's enough reference traffic, they can cite you for exceeding the speed limit, but can't put down a specific speed, since they had no way of measuring it. The citation would have to read "over 65mph."
Imagine the court proceedings:
Lawyer: Officer, you said you were able to judge, based on visual examination alone, that the driver was speeding?
Officer: Yes.
Lawyer: About how fast was he going?
Officer: About 10 miles above the speed limit.
Lawyer: And you can expertly tell this just by seeing him drive?
Officer: Yes.
Lawyer takes out a baseball, a rader gun.
Laywer: So, if I throw this baseball, you will be able to tell me the exact speed it was traveling, just by sight? After all, you just testified that you can accurately judge speed of moving objects by sight. So let's test this, shall we? Because if you fail, then obviously, you just lied, and you have no basis for giving the driver this ticket.
Officer: ...
Lawyer: Your Honor, move to dismiss.
Imagine the court proceedings:
Lawyer: Officer, you said you were able to judge, based on visual examination alone, that the driver was speeding?
Officer: Yes.
Lawyer: About how fast was he going?
Officer: About 10 miles above the speed limit.
Lawyer: And you can expertly tell this just by seeing him drive?
Officer: Yes.
Lawyer takes out a baseball, a rader gun.
Laywer: So, if I throw this baseball, you will be able to tell me the exact speed it was traveling, just by sight? After all, you just testified that you can accurately judge speed of moving objects by sight. So let's test this, shall we? Because if you fail, then obviously, you just lied, and you have no basis for giving the driver this ticket.
Officer: ...
Lawyer: Your Honor, move to dismiss.
05-18-2005, 12:47 PM
#17
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i was just in court... and yes... they apparently can get you just by sight. They don't even have to radar or pace.. and there doesn't need to be nearby traffic. The case was absolutely rediculous... He didn't have a patrol number on the citation, so pacing wasn't valid... but his sight was "good enough". He claimed to pace my car for a mile and stated that my white sedan is "a silver 2-door".... the judge didn't seem to care about that one either.... he paced me from the far right lane with me in the far left lane... in what the officer described as a sharp left turning stretch... any of you math guys will know that a pace in that manner won't be accurate.... and to add to it ALL... I was NOT speeding. ****ers.
The judge expressed how little he cares.... and I lost
The judge expressed how little he cares.... and I lost
05-18-2005, 12:52 PM
#18
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Originally Posted by Onizuka
Ask him if his car's speedometer had been checked out in the morning - I believe it's standard protocol to have it checked so that it reads correctly. If it is protocol and he didn't follow it, I think you get off free.
-GDO
-GDO
I dont believe this is for the speedo on the car....I know you can ask that of a radar/lazer/lidar gun....but I dont think its something that is a requirement of the patrol car.
-Ted
Thats ****ed up Dan.....sorry to hear....I thought that if the ticket had misinformation on it, that it was invalid. Mistaking a White Sedan for a "silver 2 door" is a pretty big mistake.....not even the same car. How can they still bust you with that? Sounds like they are scammin' cuz the state needs money.
Last edited by GotBoost?; 05-18-2005 at 12:55 PM.
05-18-2005, 12:54 PM
#19
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Originally Posted by GotBoost?
I dont believe this is for the speedo on the car....I know you can ask that of a radar/lazer/lidar gun....but I dont think its something that is a requirement of the patrol car.
-Ted
-Ted
05-18-2005, 01:17 PM
#22
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Originally Posted by XkrazyAsianX
i'd also like some pacing laws plz .... i got paced in my accord ... i was going 80 in the fast lane going the flow of traffic and the ****er just decides to pull me over .... ***in *****
05-18-2005, 07:50 PM
#23
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Originally Posted by AWD 20T
Hate to say it but as of close to the beginning of this year police are not required to pace and/or use radar/laser to tag an individual for speeding. They are now considered EXPERT speed judges and are able to cite someone after simply looking at their car drive down the road. = They have free reign over all! 
05-19-2005, 01:05 AM
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Originally Posted by Lorry
I'm curious about this and have heard it from several sources. I haven't been able to find a VC or law change that documents it though. Are the new laws written down somewhere or do we just guess - given that ignorance of the law is no excuse?
05-19-2005, 04:13 PM
#25
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Originally Posted by Heavy Dan
this iss 100% fact... they were talking about it all day in court.... When it can only be proven by site... they change the ticket to "in excess of 65". "Eye calibration" has been done for the least 7 years.... maybe they are only using it for tickets now?
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