"Ohio Supreme Court Rules Officers Can Just Guess How Fast You’re Going"

[O_o]

In what has to be one of the biggest violations of common sense and burden of proof in motoring news this year, the Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that officers can “visually estimate” how fast a person is driving… and give them a ticket for it.

Thanks Ohio Supreme Court for giving cops the green light to make up speeding tickets.


Supreme Court Justice Maureen O’Connor said “Rational triers of fact could find a police officer’s testimony regarding his unaided visual estimation of a vehicle’s speed, when supported by evidence that the officer is trained, certified by (the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy) or a similar organization, and experienced in making such estimations, sufficient to establish beyond a reasonable doubt the defendant’s speed. Independent verification of the vehicle’s speed is not necessary to support a conviction for speeding.”


Hey “Supreme Court Justices” why don’t you guys get this part of what laws are supposed to do through your thick skulls. It’s safe to say that officers might be trained to identify speeds, and they might even be great at it – but it blasts the notion of burden of proof being on the state out of the water. You didn’t just blast it out, you nuked that fish to dry land. There is no factual evidence when officers have the ability to do this, “I think you were going 120 mph.”


Where is the public recourse for police officers who abuse their abilities? We have to take an officer’s (the state) word that we committed a crime? Did you guys even go to law school?

Source: http://www.autoinsane.com/2010/06/03...t-youre-going/

[JohnnyBoy1102]

Civil Rebellion anybody? I smell revolution! The government is getting out of control.

[DavC825]

This is retarded.
Worst idea ever.

[Kiriyama9000]

I'm pretty sure cops can already do that to some extent anyway. While they can't specify what speed, they can deem driving behavior and speed to be unsafe for the area or conditions the speeding driver is in without the use of a radar or other device.

[mkoch1]

What he said. I got a ticket in the past for speed greater than reasonable. It was a bike cop at UMBC that just saw me go by. SPeed limit is 15mph so I am sure I was speeding but he didn't have any proof.

[Mean Green Z28]

I've got warnings for "speed greater than reasonable" but never a ticket

[gdoggmoney]

More opinion and interpretation for law enforcement. Lovely.

[MachMan]

I've already witnessed this in court.
Officer was on the stand giving his testimony
Officer: He was going 50 mph in a 30 mph zone
Defendant: Where were you when you noticed me traveling at this speed?
Officer: Walking towards my vehicle.
Defendant: So how were you able to determine my speed without any radar equipment?
Officer: I know what 50 mph looks and sounds like (I shit you not, that's what he said)
Defendant: I was not going 50 mph, you're making that up!
Judge: We're not getting into this. Officer, was he going 50 mph?
Officer: Yes.
Judge: You were doing 50 mph, do you have any other questions?

I remember that testimony vividly and it made my blood boil.

[pockets]

a few more laws like this and i'm gonna start getting ready to exploit our right to overthrow this bullshit government we have and start over

[usmctankmech]

Thats what they have been doing in North Carolina for a while now.