No Radar needed....Speeding in Ohio

[JustRalph]

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/06/02/ohio-supreme-court-speed-estimate-valid.html?sid=101

:lol: This ought to be good...............


OHIO SUPREME COURT
Police officer's estimate good enough for speeding ticket
Justices uphold citation against Akron-area driver

Wednesday, June 2, 2010 11:23 AM
BY JAMES NASH

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Attention lead foots: Police don't need radar to cite you for speeding.

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled this morning that an officer trained to estimate speed by sight doesn't need an electronic gauge to catch speeders.

The 5-1 ruling was a defeat for 27-year-old Akron-area motorist Mark W. Jenney and speeders across the state. Jenney had challenged a visual speed estimate by a Copley police officer, but a trial court and the 9th District Court of Appeals upheld his conviction.

much more at the link

[Overlay]

What did cops do before there were radar guns?

This somehow brings to mind an old episode of Petticoat Junction in which the saintly Kate Bradley (Bea Benaderet) went to court to contest a traffic citation that she was given. The outcome hinged on whether the alleged infraction occurred just before or just after a certain time of day (I believe it was two in the afternoon). If it happened before that time, Kate would have been guilty. In her testimony on the chronology leading up to the citation, Kate mentioned having met the judge's wife at the beauty parlor at ten before two, at which time the judge's wife started telling Kate about her grandchildren. The judge immediately threw the case out, on the grounds that there would have been no possible way that his wife could have confined herself to ten minutes when discussing her grandchildren.

[jballscalls]

they just need reasonable suspicion that the person was speeding, thats good enough for me

[DJofSD]

There was no description of the circumstances of the original citation. Surely, if you are in traffic and you are passing all of the other vehicles you are either exceeding the speed limit or you are traveling faster than conditions would deem to be safe.

[Ocala Mike]

Surely, if you are in traffic and you are passing all of the other vehicles you are either exceeding the speed limit or you are traveling faster than conditions would deem to be safe.

This is a ridiculous assertion. If it were true, there would be NO PASSING anywhere. I don't know where you live or drive, but you wouldn't last long with that philosophy in my neck of the woods.


Ocala Mike
(FL Safe Driver)

[PhantomOnTour]

I drive slow like a Paw Paw, so speeding tickets are not a problem for me. But if I do get one I want the officer to have proof, not an estimation of proof. We have those damn cameras at lots of intersections in Lafayette to catch speeders and red light runners. Don't like those either.

[DJofSD]

This is a ridiculous assertion. If it were true, there would be NO PASSING anywhere. I don't know where you live or drive, but you wouldn't last long with that philosophy in my neck of the woods.


Ocala Mike
(FL Safe Driver)
You might think it's rediculous but it is the basic speed law. Circumstances and road conditions out weight the posted speed limit. There is not anything I stated that said there would not be any passing allowed.

[Tom]

Sad fact is that as state monies dry up, police are being used more and more to generate revenue. Protect and serve is becoming fleece and gouge.

[DJofSD]

Ever heard of red light cameras?

[PhantomOnTour]

Ever heard of red light cameras?
See post #6...got 'em all over Lafayette, La and i don't like 'em.

[46zilzal]

Met a fellow at a truck stop who claimed he purchased a device that would SEND out signals to radar guns that either masked or scrambled their return signal. They would in effect, re-boot and by then the speeder was through the trap.

[highnote]

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/06/02/ohio-supreme-court-speed-estimate-valid.html?sid=101

:lol: This ought to be good...............


This sets a bad precedent. Maybe someone will make a device that records the speed of your car to a black box. Then the black box recording can be used as evidence.

What I would have done is set up a demonstration at a racetrack and ask the policeman to estimate the speeds of cars as each one passes by him.

Then do it again with three or four cars passing by him and have one of the cars passing the others.

Now, if the speed limit was 25 mph and the car was traveling at say, 50, then the cop can probably tell it was going over the speed limit. But how much over the limit? Was the car going 40 or 50 or 60? What speed should the fine be based on?

Maybe the town needs money?

[ddog]

Sad fact is that the roads are filled with nutjobs and worse that drive as if there are no laws to obey.

I support cops pulling over these clowns and then taking their license away.

I think the cop can see if a maniac is causing havoc in a normal traffic pattern.

Take them off the roads and throw away the keys.

[JustRalph]

Met a fellow at a truck stop who claimed he purchased a device that would SEND out signals to radar guns that either masked or scrambled their return signal. They would in effect, re-boot and by then the speeder was through the trap.

radar jammers been around for 25 yrs. in some states they are a felony to possess.........

[delayjf]

Surely, if you are in traffic and you are passing all of the other vehicles you are either exceeding the speed limit or you are traveling faster than conditions would deem to be safe.

Where he (and I) drive, So Calilfornia - anyone fitting the above description is doing at least 80 mph and probably closer to 90.

radar jammers been around for 25 yrs. in some states they are a felony to possess.........

JR,

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't jammers against the law every where but detectors are only illegal in some states i.e Virginia?

[newtothegame]

I know this is about speeding....but what about those that are driving to SLOW? I see them as a big of detriment to safety as the speeding ones. I believe this to be one of the reasons for states such as La who now have in place a law about driving in the passing lane on interstates.

[JustRalph]

JR,
Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't jammers against the law every where but detectors are only illegal in some states i.e Virginia?

As far as I know, only VA has a law against Radar Detectors anymore.

I think there were some out west, but they all went away when the 55mph speed limit was lifted

Btw, VA is still very serious about those Radar Detectors..........

[DJofSD]

I know this is about speeding....but what about those that are driving to SLOW? I see them as a big of detriment to safety as the speeding ones. I believe this to be one of the reasons for states such as La who now have in place a law about driving in the passing lane on interstates.
Most of the people that are driving too slowly are the ones talking on their cell phones.

[BlueShoe]

Most of the people that are driving too slowly are the ones talking on their cell phones.
Or texting, which is much worse.

[JustRalph]

I knew this might be coming............ :lol:

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/06/10/bill-wouldnt-let-officers-eyeball-speed.html?sid=101

Bill wouldn't let officers eyeball drivers' speed
Thursday, June 10, 2010 11:57 PM
BY JAMES NASH

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

A week after the Ohio Supreme Court allowed police to ticket speeders based on visual evidence alone, three lawmakers announced bills that would prevent the practice.

An unusual bipartisan duo, state Sens. Timothy J. Grendell, R-Chesterland, and Capri S. Cafaro, D-Hubbard, introduced a bill that would require laser, radar or airborne speed readings to cite a driver for speeding. An aide to state Rep. Robert F. Hagan, D-Youngstown, said Hagan plans to submit a similar bill in the House.

On June 3, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled 5-1 that properly trained police officers can gauge a vehicle's speed without the aid of electronic instruments.

Police agencies said they rarely, if ever, cite drivers for speed violations unless they have laser, radar or airplane readings of vehicle speed. The State Highway Patrol said its policy requires an electronic measurement before a driver can be cited.

more at the link

[WeirdWilly]

radar jammers been around for 25 yrs. in some states they are a felony to possess.........

At least that long.

Back in 1981, a shipmate told me about how, on his last ship, an electronics warfare specialist had homebrewed a device that would make radar guns read whatever he wanted them to. Just gotta send some phony "reflections" at the right pulse repetition rate and doppler shift frequency.

Considering the man's job was to work on a piece of equipment that could make a cargo ship (us) look like an aircraft carrier, or an aircraft carrier disappear into sea clutter, I have no doubt his buddy did.

Perhaps he's the guy who started selling them commercially a few years later.