Radar Speeding Ticket With an Obstruction Between the Officer and Traffic

My question involves a traffic ticket from the state of: indiana

hey guys, i am new to rdforum and thought i would ask for advice after seeing very helpful responses in previous post. i got a ticket for going 30 over in 35mph zone indiana. i got clocked right after a bridge where the cop was in a parking lot. there are many different objects between the traffic and where the cop was at.

i am trying to get hold of operator manual for the radar gun used and find factors known to cause measurement error. such as 1) the window with clear line of sight is narrow so there is limited time to lock the speed. 2) cop may have clocked speeding vehicle behind me 3) interference with metallic pole, fence, utility line.

it will be my first time in court next week, i know i must not testify but i am not sure how to make best use of the circumstance and present admissible evidence. please help!

https://www.rdforum.org/attachment.p...0&d=1426379919

any non-moving object in between you and the radar would only serve to cause a 0 mph reading or if somehow your speed and the static objects speed were combined/averaged, reduce the overall reading. Given you were clocked at 65 mph, it suggests either it is accurate or you were travelling at a much higher speed.

Your drawing shows the other car clearly obstructed by your car so that defense is not going to fly either.

thanks for quick response jk, what would you suggest i do?

well, personally, if it were me and I was speeding, I would pay the ticket.


unless you can contest the ticket on some technicality such as there is a requirement to perform certification on the SMD used and it has not been properly maintained or the long shot that the cop won't show up for a trial, if you were speeding, you aren't likely to win.

jk, i read a some appeal cases about admissibility of radar certification/calibration logs are not required so i thought i don't stand a chance. if i hire an attorney, how would the case be defended?

http://www.in.gov/judiciary/opinions...8310617jsk.pdf

It does not appear you have one. The argument being made was that the officer claimed to have calibrated the radar that day however, made no record doing so, where apparently the dept. has a process for it. The defendant did not lodge an objection to the lack of foundation the officer conveyed. The truck driver, bless him and his witness could still be wrong. The annual inspection does not recalibrate the speedometer, relying on the on board programming of the truck to keep it so. A truck experiencing a speedometer malfunction, could have a speedometer that hangs as speed increases and only reaches speed X where it is governed, when you are at speed X plus 5,6,7, 10 ... insert a number. The drivers have learned to use a watch and mile marker to time their speed based on the time they complete the mile. More currently cell phone apps and gps units do it for you. Rarely will a driver report a malfunctioning speedo, because it bypasses the companies run times meaning you have more goof off time. In fact, when you happen upon such trucks, you might go 20 or so miles before it dawns on you that you are passing everything in sight. On the other side of the coin, I had days where a bit of bad karma was only fixed by having a "hot" truck and I completed all assigned work and made it back to my home terminal so I could go home, instead of sleeping in a hotel 5 miles from my house knowing I had to immediately return to work 10 hours after I arrived and might not see my family for 3 more days because of how I was dispatched on the fly.

it did state this though:

Quote:

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To lay a properfoundation for the admission of radar test results, the State must establish that the radarunit was properly operated and regularly tested. Id. (citing Charlie v. State, 651 N.E.2d300, 303 (Ind. Ct. App. 1995)).

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while no logs or certification required, none the less, there is still a requirement the unit be regularly tested.

thanks disagreeable & jk, here is another one. in hindsight, are you saying objecting the admissibility of evidence properly may lead to different conclusion?

http://www.lawskills.com/case/ga/id/294/37/index.html
http://www.in.gov/judiciary/opinions...99903.jgb.html

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so would anyone recommend try the tipmra if officer is missing paperwork?

No foundation support for calibration of the radar unit, beyond the officers testimony, assuming discovery was requested of calibration documents and the officer report and notes, could lead to an objection the unit was properly calibrated at the time used.

so the clerk left a voicemail that the court date i had initially requested was rescheduled by the prosecutor (for the first time) and granted. from reading different threads, it doesn't seem i have any option but to accept it and propose a date at my convenience. i was thinking of showing up in the court anyway to see other how other sessions go. i also plan to file a motion for discovery similar to advice here (http://www.expertlaw.com/forums/show...ight=discovery). depending on whether i get response to the request, i will share the findings here. am i going in the right direction?

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i'd really appreciate if i could get some comments on my discovery request draft here. i have trimmed it down to what i think will help my case.

http://www.tiikoni.com/tis/view/?id=d63b08f
http://www.tiikoni.com/tis/view/?id=3b87a71