tagged by laser from bridge

[HighwayMan]

I think that unless the officer has a photographic memory, it is not believable to me that he can prove that he can look through a small scope of a handheld laser at my car which is 1000ft-2000 ft away...

You don't know how far away you were when you were locked. The officer was just dealing with you and your car at the time. That does not take a photographic memory. And after you're locked he puts the set down and is not looking through a scope.

...then pull the trigger on the handheld device, look at the reading, record the speed...

You're making this way too complicated. He doesn't have to look at the reading OR record anything. The officer is basing the initial targeting of your vehicle on his speed estimation and confirming it with the lidar. Typically, I do not even look at the radar/lidar display until AFTER the target vehicle is stopped. There is no need to do otherwise.

...loses sight of my car for 15 seconds or so...

15 seconds is nothing. Certainly it is easy to articulate that he identified your vehicle and losing sight of it for only 15 seconds is pretty meaningless. You are driving on a controlled access highway and the chances that you stopped and switched drivers (if anyone else was even in the car) in that time period is pretty much zero.

...then is able to pick my car from among many other cars depending only on the quick look at my car through the small scope...

Yes, it is not hard to pick out cars from a group. And again, he didn't JUST look at your car through a "small scope". He used his naked eyes and probably got a good look at both YOU and your car. I would say from the vantage point of the bridge he would have an even better look at you then if he was on your level.


Bottom line is the officer is doing this every day maybe dozens of time a day. The lidar is easy to use anyway and you are making the process seem extremely complicated even though I am guessing that you never did speed enforcement with lidar. When one is used to making quick observations under these circumstances there is no issue with picking you out after only 15 seconds.

You can argue this in court all day. In the end I don't think the arguments you have presented here will get you very far.

 

[HighwayMan]

Candidly, this is one of the few times that the cops were actually wrong....by at least 7-10 mph.

What was your speed? What was the speed limit? What speed did you get written for?

 

[vigilocanis]

I have probably given too many details already. Let's just say I was traveling at a safe speed maybe 10 mph less than the ticket speed.

 

[asiny]

I have probably given too many details already. Let's just say I was traveling at a safe speed maybe 10 mph less than the ticket speed.

Without giving too many details- were you driving faster than the legally, posted speed limit for the road you were driving? Basing on what you have already posted, you were and are looking for a way to get out of ticket.

Your "safe speed maybe 10 mph less than the ticket speed." does not mean you were driving a safe speed under the law.
Reading that, you can have been driving any speed- as long as it was 10mph less than the ticket.

 

[vigilocanis]

As you know, there are different fine assessments for different speed gradatiions. Ga has a new superspeeder law which adds a $200 extra fine on top of the county fine and 2 points on your record for violators of 15 mph or greater. The ticket just happens to be exactly 15 mpg over which doubles the fine. I am not sure I was over the speed limit 1mph let alone 15. That is why I want to prove my innocence. You seem to have adopted the position based on your experience that 100% all traffic citations are lawful. Perhaps you are the exception. All the testing of the devices and training required of operators and operating instructions for devices are evidence that 100% accuracy is a goal and not a given.

 

[HighwayMan]

That is why I want to prove my innocence.

I can't see how you can do that - you don't even know how fast you were driving. 10 mph is a minor difference for you to judge and you don't even know if your vehicle speedometer is accurate.

The only thing you can do is make the state prove their case and provide whatever records they are required to at a trial or hearing. You can win if they fail to meet the standard of proof required by the court. It does NOT seem like you can win by actually proving anything because you can't.