Quote:
Originally Posted by ERA Chas
I respect the info the law guys have posted about their training and experiences-bottom line is they always use electrons as backup for their observation.
But I'd like to understand-is speed judgment based in a target's speed relative to other moving traffic around it? Or are officers trained to gauge a single moving object's speed? If traffic is moving at a steady 80 mph and I'm going 86 is that detectable, and to what end since all traffic is already 25 over posted limit?
Further, who (if either) is more likely to get a citation-a red C6 going 72 or a gray Hyundai going 78? Are these subjective evaluations or is the faster car always correctly stopped regardless of a vehicle's perceived speed capability?
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Chas, Officers are trained in
both a single object's speed & an object's speed relative to other moving objects around it. It comes from hands on experience. Training was a week of sitting with a radar gun on the highway for 8 hours straight each day doing nothing but estimating a vehicle's speed & using the radar gun to check the actual speed against the estimate. After a week you get quite good, actually you get within 3 miles an hour as that is what you have to be to pass the test. You continue to improve & sharpen your skills your entire time you are actually working Traffic detail. That's just natural- the more you do something, the better you get at it.
Now, Things can get confusing real fast with multiple moving targets, the dispatcher barking orders, your coffee spilling & your green horn partner talking about .....whatever. Anyway, yes, mistakes can be made. It's not a fail safe system but is the best system there is (Back when I was working it). Observe, Estimate the speed & use the radar to back up/confirm the speed.
Who gets a ticket?, well that's Officer's discretion. I wrote speeding tickets on about 25% of my stops. I issued verbal warnings about 75% of the time. I used speeding as probable cause to stop a vehicle & if everything was in order, let the violator go with a warning.
Now, alot of times that speeding stop leads to all kinds of other charges. Not only vehicle & traffic law stuff but drug running, smuggling, etc. Caught alot of bad guys because they were simply going to fast. Either over the posted limit or- speed too fast for conditions.........now that's a whole other can 'o' worms..
