On Friday 3/26/06 I was traveling southbound on I-75 after merging from 129-E. Once I merged onto I-75 at mile marker 24 I immediately made my way into the left most lane to avoid all the traffic merging on/off the next exit which is extremely busy, especially on the Friday before Memorial Day weekend. This particular stretch of interstate is 3 lanes, which then has the left most lane split into two lanes at mile marker 21 forming a 4 lane road. Once I was in the left lane I was following at least half a dozen cars in front of me and my speed between mile marker 24 and 21 varied between 65-70 mph. I was physically unable to go any faster due to the amount of traffic in front of me.
Once I reached mile marker 21 and the lane split I saw many cars hitting their brakes in front of me and I knew there was a police car sitting in the well-known speed trap ahead. Since I was already doing the speed limit and the rest of the cars were slamming on their brakes, lowering their speed to ~55-60mph I moved into the left most lane after the split while the other vehicles remained in the current lane and I passed them. At no time did my speed ever exceed 68-70mph and I casually drove past the 2 OHP cruisers sitting in the median.
As soon as I moved past the cruisers one of them hit his lights and briefly sounded his siren. He slowly pulled out and I merged over a lane assuming that he was in pursuit of someone else. Once I realized that he was pulling me over I merged onto the shoulder and waited. He then informed me that an airplane had clocked me at 85mph in a 65 at mile marker 21. After receving my ticket I informed the officer that it was physically impossible for me to go that fast due to the traffic in front of me and he told me that he was simply going on what the pilot of the plane had told him. He told me at least 5 times that all I had to do was mail in the $95 for the ticket. I told him that there was no way I would plead guilty to something I did not do and that I would be contesting the citation.
My question is this: How accurate are the measurements from an airplane? From what I understand the method they use involves someone starting and stopping a timer at marked intervals on the road and these numbers are then calculated to determine your speed. I would think that this could be highly inaccurate based on the fact that it is a human who is starting and stopping the timer and being so much as a half-second too fast or too slow would seriously skew the results. I don't have any points on my license and I don't want my record tarnished by the error of someone else.
What can I do?
Once I reached mile marker 21 and the lane split I saw many cars hitting their brakes in front of me and I knew there was a police car sitting in the well-known speed trap ahead. Since I was already doing the speed limit and the rest of the cars were slamming on their brakes, lowering their speed to ~55-60mph I moved into the left most lane after the split while the other vehicles remained in the current lane and I passed them. At no time did my speed ever exceed 68-70mph and I casually drove past the 2 OHP cruisers sitting in the median.
As soon as I moved past the cruisers one of them hit his lights and briefly sounded his siren. He slowly pulled out and I merged over a lane assuming that he was in pursuit of someone else. Once I realized that he was pulling me over I merged onto the shoulder and waited. He then informed me that an airplane had clocked me at 85mph in a 65 at mile marker 21. After receving my ticket I informed the officer that it was physically impossible for me to go that fast due to the traffic in front of me and he told me that he was simply going on what the pilot of the plane had told him. He told me at least 5 times that all I had to do was mail in the $95 for the ticket. I told him that there was no way I would plead guilty to something I did not do and that I would be contesting the citation.
My question is this: How accurate are the measurements from an airplane? From what I understand the method they use involves someone starting and stopping a timer at marked intervals on the road and these numbers are then calculated to determine your speed. I would think that this could be highly inaccurate based on the fact that it is a human who is starting and stopping the timer and being so much as a half-second too fast or too slow would seriously skew the results. I don't have any points on my license and I don't want my record tarnished by the error of someone else.
What can I do?
