Police ticket one car from group of speeding cars

niklas

New Member
Jurisdiction
New York
I was driving down a major street with about 3-5 cars nearby. There is a darker spot on the street, which is next to a cemetery. A police car had radar or laser gun stuck out the window of the car in a dark spot on a block adjacent to this main road. I was pulled over for doing 15 MPH over the speed limit. It is ridiculous because the speed limit is already slow and everybody drives at that speed. And I don't know how they could have clocked just my car when there are 2 lanes and plenty of cars near me. I think they just chose a car at random since there is no way they could have separated me from the group of cars. Isn't this also some type of entrapment if they allow others to go at this rate of speed too?
 
No, it is not entrapment.

It is not a defense to speeding to say that everyone else always does it and that there were other people he COULD have stopped. On that day, you were the unlucky fellow that got stopped. Unless you can successfully cast reasonable doubt on the charge that you were exceeding the speed limit, you are likely to lose.
 
You are responsible for your actions no matter what anyone else is doing. No entrapment - sorry.
 
At typical distances that traffic lidar is used at, the width of the laser beam is about 8-10 inches. It is EASY to pick cars out of a group and you were the unlucky one.
 
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I honestly doubt that I was the unlucky one. We were in a pack, some cars side by side. I understand what you are saying but I highly doubt they can say that they pinpointed a specific car they saw in the dark and then knew exactly which car it was they hit with the LIDAR. Is there any evidence they might bring to trial other than just their readout that the object they hit was traveling at approximately a certain rate of speed? Thank you.
 
I honestly doubt that I was the unlucky one. We were in a pack, some cars side by side. I understand what you are saying but I highly doubt they can say that they pinpointed a specific car they saw in the dark and then knew exactly which car it was they hit with the LIDAR. Is there any evidence they might bring to trial other than just their readout that the object they hit was traveling at approximately a certain rate of speed? Thank you.

I'll make it very simple for you.

I've practiced law for decades, and traffic court, as is small claism court is notoriously known as LIARS court.

That said, the judge will believe the police 98% of the time.
That 2% delta is because drivers bring conclusive proof to sway the judge's inclination.

Absent such proof, as in speeding ticket cases, I suggest Traffic School, or ACOD (Adjournemnt in Contemplation of Dismissal, as its known in your state (I think).
 
I understand what you are saying but I highly doubt they can say that they pinpointed a specific car they saw in the dark...

You are SO wrong. With lidar the operator looks through a scope - inside the scope is a head up display which includes an aiming point - with mine it's a red dot. Whatever that red dot is pointed at IS the target.

I don't care if you drive arm in arm with the passenger of the car next to you, it is EASY to pick cars out of a crowd. You are deluding yourself if you believe otherwise.

Also, there is no readout of anything that will be brought to court and you are NOT entitled to discovery in New York for traffic cases.

"Traffic school" is not an option here, and very, very few courts accept ACD's as dispositions, ESPECIALLY in speeding cases.

What court is handling your ticket? I may be familiar with it and be able to provide more insight.
 
I honestly doubt that I was the unlucky one.

Also, guess what? Radar or lidar is not even necessary to get a speeding conviction in New York State. So even if the electronic device is excluded from evidence, a properly trained officer can STILL convict you. There is caselaw on this. See People v. Olsen.
 
If your argument to get out of a speeding ticket is that you weren't speeding, you were traveling the same speed as another car caught on radar speeding, do you see the logistical issue? Even if it was another car on the radar, just for the sake of argument, if they were speeding and you were traveling in a pack with them, you would have had to be going the same speed. Hence, you were speeding.
 
So you wish to maintain that if 6 cars are all speeding together then none of them can be charged for speeding unless ALL of them are pulled over and charged? In that case then if you want to speed, all you have to do is find a few friends to speed with you. One police car cannot pull over multiple cars.
 
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