How does police radar work?

[SP01715]

I have never seen anyone win a radar ticket in court. As a matter of fact I have only seen a few people beat any type of ticket for a moving violation. Good luck...

It may be different in Canada though...

[VRM]

Originally Posted by SP01715

I have never seen anyone win a radar ticket in court. As a matter of fact I have only seen a few people beat any type of ticket for a moving violation. Good luck...

It may be different in Canada though...

I've beaten more than a few (lost a few, too). It helps to know that radar is a very imperfect tool. And being able to explain complicated science in simple terms helps also.
I also beat Lidar once - in my Corvette (lost in my F150 though).

[SP01715]

Originally Posted by VRM

I've beaten more than a few (lost a few, too). It helps to know that radar is a very imperfect tool. And being able to explain complicated science in simple terms helps also.
I also beat Lidar once - in my Corvette (lost in my F150 though).

Back in my Law Enforcement days I watched a guy go through a defense of a radar ticket for almost two hours. The guy went from the start of radar technology to the present. It took about 30 seconds when he was done for the judge to find him guilty. It was kind of funny, but a huge waste of time.

[VRM]

Originally Posted by SP01715

Back in my Law Enforcement days I watched a guy go through a defense of a radar ticket for almost two hours. The guy went from the start of radar technology to the present. It took about 30 seconds when he was done for the judge to find him guilty. It was kind of funny, but a huge waste of time.

Yep - you have about 5 minutes. I come up with 10 questions, and then eliminate the 5 worst, and then draw up a picture or three showing where everything was.

The best I know of was from guy I met at a car show a couple of years ago - he mentioned he got a ticket for chirping a tyre (display of speed) and said he was hoping the cop would not show up. I told him (half jokingly) to ask the cop if he had ever squeaked a sneaker on a basketball court, and how fast he thinks he was going when he did. He left a message on my machine a year or so ago saying he did just that and he won.

[SP01715]

Originally Posted by VRM

Yep - you have about 5 minutes. I come up with 10 questions, and then eliminate the 5 worst, and then draw up a picture or three showing where everything was.

The best I know of was from guy I met at a car show a couple of years ago - he mentioned he got a ticket for chirping a tyre (display of speed) and said he was hoping the cop would not show up. I told him (half jokingly) to ask the cop if he had ever squeaked a sneaker on a basketball court, and how fast he thinks he was going when he did. He left a message on my machine a year or so ago saying he did just that and he won.

Traffic court was always interesting. I never worked traffic because I hated writing tickets and dealing with people at accident scenes, but I found myself there once in a while when someone talked their way into a ticket. The only reason the guy on the radar ticket got so much time was because it was a judge pro tem. The regular judge would have stopped the guy after a few minutes.