illegal speeding ticket?

I was recently driving in the MD area and was pulled over by an officer for speeding. He did not have any measuring device to measure my speed with, yet he gave me a ticket for doing 80 in a 55 mile zone. His claim is that he had been following me for a while (which I dispute) and I must have been going at least 80 as he had to do 90 to catch up to me. When he issued me the ticket, his words to me were "I am saying you were doing 80 in a 55 mile zone and that is too fast..."

I saw him in my rear-view mirror as I moved from the middle lane into the far left lane to overtake a car that was going well below the speed limit. I could barely make out his lights on top of his car, he was so far away, and I immediately pulled back into the middle lane after overtaking the car in front of me.

Anyway, his jurisdiction is a different county to the one I live in and I think that he gave me a ticket thinking I would not fight it.

My question is - was it legal for him to give me a ticket when he did not have any way to gauge my speed accurately? Is there any way for me to prove that he did this, or will it be his word against mine? He was also in plain clothes (so was his partner) and did not identlify himself with a badge, although I did not ask to see one - can an officer issue a ticket when in plain clothes?

[Rochelle]

Yes to both.

1) An officer in a vehicle that is not equipped with radar can "pace" you and determine if you are speeding. This is allowable. He probably started pacing you in his jurisdiction.

2) An officer can write you a ticket in uniform or plain clothes. None of our detectives wear their badge on their clothing, but have a wallet badge that they display when needed.

Rochelle,

Thanks for your reply. There were extenuating circumstances which I did not go into that make me believe the officer was not pacing me at any time. When he pulled me over, he told me that he had been following me for a while from a road I was never on.

When I told him I was not on that road, he argued that I was. It was only after I was adamant that I was not on that road that he asked me where I was coming from. I explained to him where I was coming from and then he changed his story to say that he meant he had been following from the onramp of the road, which was about 7 miles before he pulled me over. It may have been a miscommunication error between us, but it did not sound like that to me.

Anyway, I do not believe that he was pacing me at all. I believe that he first saw me overtaking a car and assumed that I was speeding and pulled me over, and when I said I was not sure if I was speeding or not, although I did not think I was, he took a chance and gave me a ticket.

Are there any other takes on this case?