Re: Officer estimates enough for speeding convictions
It has always been this way. An officer's trained estimate is required to back up radar readings, and not the other way around. When the radar indicates a car somewhere in its view is going 76 in a 65, the 'trained estimator' needs to be able to judge which vehicle's speed is being displayed. That's also why a lot of tickets give a 5 mph range, such as writing up 70 to 75 if the radar says 76.
Human judgment isn't always perfect. Ask any baseball fan about blown calls. Especially Detroit fans this morning.
Only observation with time/distance calculation methods, and laser with a spotting scope give a precise single-vehicle speed.
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Someone said "Making good decisions comes from experience, experience comes from bad decisions." I say there are three kinds of people: those who learn from their mistakes, those who learn from the mistakes of others, and those who never learn.
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