hdaffron said:
What is the name of your state? I am from Texas. My husband received a speeding ticket from a Texas State Trooper. He was cited for going 71 in a 60. He insist that he was going the speed limit and that the trooper must have clocked the truck in front of him. My husband was in the middle of a line of cars, and these other cars were pulling away from him. Also he was within the city limits of the small town of Cleveland. What should we do inregards to fighting this ticket?
Bring that exact issue up in court. A vehicle in the vicinity that is traveling in the same direction and close to your vehicle can often "take over" the signal on a radar from an officer that is traveling in the opposite direction running radar. However, it is easy for an officer correctly trained to use radar to decipher when the larger vehicle is out of range and when the target vehicle (the one you thought you were clocking) is still in range (even if they are still close together). An interference with multiple vehicles will often make a different sound than one vehicle, sounds will often get stronger when vehicles get closer to the police vehicle and because of that, it is easier to tell which vehicle is traveling which speed.
About the only time the officer might get a false reading (meaning clocking the larger vehicle as opposed to your vehicle), is if both vehicles are traveling seemingly side by side for the same amount of time that they are in the range of the rader. In that case, often, the larger vehicle will take over the reading for the entire time and by the time they are past the officer, he never has a chance to get a reading on the smaller vehicle. The larger vehicle's signal engulfs the smaller vehicle's signal.
Mistakes can be made, but it really depends on the experience of the officer.
