Speed Detection Tools in Dinwiddie

Receiving a ticket for speeding requires the officers who are detecting the speeding to provide proof that the individual was driving too fast. In order to prove speeding, officers turn to speed detection tools in Dinwiddie. The speed detection tools most commonly used include radar, lidar, and pacing. Each tool has its benefits and pitfalls and can be an accurate way of gauging speed, as long as the officers using them are well-trained. If an officer has not received sufficient training, that can impact drivers who may receive undeserved speeding tickets. If you have received a ticket and you wish to contest the speeding charge, get in contact with a Dinwiddie speeding ticket lawyer who can fight for you.

Radar

Radar devices are used to detect speed.They are designed to be as specific as possible bound to a mile per hour once they isolate the vehicle. Radar readings are given a huge amount of weight in court. Drivers put them in their vehicles to detect when radars are being used. They are mounted in law enforcement vehicles.

Officers are trained in the police academy and individually before using radar detectors. They are constantly held to a standard of maintaining their unit and ensuring its accuracy by their law enforcement agencies unless the law enforcement agency wants to have someone write a lot of tickets and lose them in court.

In order to prove that a radar is properly calibrated, it helps to have paperwork. Law enforcement usually has a binder of their calibration results with dates and times that they can provide when asked. A lot of times they are also filed with the court.

Drivers are not allowed to have radar detectors or any other speed detection tools in Dinwiddie. It is illegal to have a detector in your car in Virginia. A driver might choose to have a detector in their car because of their past driving record. Having a radar detector is seen as intent to break the law.

LIDAR

LIDAR stands for light detection and ranging, and it is used to detect speed. Of the speed detection tools in Dinwiddie, LIDAR is the most accurate. LIDAR is more vehicle specific than radar. Most commonly it is used in Southern Virginia as a gun that gets focused on an individual vehicle. They usually aim for the area where the front license plate is in Virginia. Virginia has a requirement to have a front license plate, but even if a vehicle does not that is where it is aimed. It comes back with the speed of the vehicle that it was aimed.

LIDAR readings are given more weight than radar, which is hard to imagine since radar is given almost complete acceptance by the court. A lot of the judges have done “ride alongs” with local enforcement, so they are particularly impressed by a LIDAR and its accuracy.

Although LIDAR might be more commonly used in Northern Virginia, it is not used as often in Dinwiddie because it is very rural. Dinwiddie does not have a lot of the same things that Northern Virginia has.

Pacing

Pacing is when a law enforcement officer eyeballs a person’s speed as opposed to using equipment to get an exact speed reading. They are eyeballing and estimating. Pacing is proven in the testimony, which is essentially the same way all speeding is proven without the added reading of radar, LIDAR, or camera equipment.

It is hard to for officers to ensure consistency because it is not something that happens frequently. Officers will pace vehicles as a last resort, particularly if they are in a vehicle that does not have radar equipment. They see someone going at an outrageous speed, eyeball it, and see that it is easily 20, 30, or 40 miles over the speed limit. They want to stop that vehicle so they do not hurt themselves or hurt someone else, but it is hard to have any kind of consistent pacing approach because it is out of the ordinary.

Pacing arguments are given less weight than radar and LIDAR. It depends on how well the officer can articulate how they came up with the range of speed as testified. Pacing relies almost entirely on the officer’s ability to assume certain speeds which is also why it is the least accurate of the speed detection tools in Dinwiddie.

Dinwiddie Police Officers and Pacing

There is no set amount of time or distance that an officer has to be tracking a vehicle for pacing to be used as admissible evidence. The more information that a person can give the court to ensure that they had enough time and that their visual was unimpeded, the more weight it will have in the testimony. They can overcome not having a lot of distance if they contest. If they are going 125, they do not need a long time to figure that out. If an officer does not maintain consistent speed or distance from the car while tracking it, it is not going to make the testimony irrelevant, but it is going to lower the weight given to that testimony.

Police officers can pace from a stationary position. It is a totality of the circumstances. It always helps if a person is behind them and they are pulling away. For example, if an officer is going 40 and the officer tells the judge they never saw driver after that, that is still valid as testimony and evidence. Occasionally law enforcement will see someone going at an outrageous speed and they will pull them over.

Importance of an Experienced Dinwiddie Attorney

If you have received a speeding ticket, reach out to a speeding ticket attorney. A lawyer with a knowledge of speed detection tools in Dinwiddie, how they work, and what their limitations are, will be able to skillfully craft a defense for you. If there are any inaccuracies in the methods that the police officer used to gauge your speeding, an attorney can incorporate that information into your case as well. Most importantly, a determined speeding ticket lawyer can work hard to build you a strong case