- When you projected my vehicle’s speed, did you first observed my vehicle using your eyes or using the radar? – Most likely he will say with his eyes, so follow up with:

 

- Are you saying that you were already assuming that my vehicle exceeded the speed limit, even though you haven’t yet measured it with the radar? – Bring this up in your concluding statement that the officer was biased after observing your vehicle with her eyes before he ever used the radar to measure the speed.

 

- Have you lately participated in any controlled experimentation to examine your ability to correctly moderate a vehicle’s speed with a radar unit? – Almost always no. In the rare case of a yes, ask for documentations of results If the officer used the Laser speed determination method:

 

LASER – Laser systems are handheld units which emit a laser beam to your vehicle, and then bounce back to the receiver, and afterwards calculate the speed of the subject vehicle. A good website to study how laser works is:

 

Read up on it carefully. One of your plans of attack is to test the officer’s knowledge of how the laser system works. Surprisingly, many officers, even though knowing how to apply it, do not concretely understand how it works. Your plan of attack will be the following:

 

1.   To show the officer’s lack of laser system knowledge

 

2.   The laser unit was not used properly to determine your vehicle’s speed

 

Here are some questions which you can apply when cross-examining your officer:

 

- Can you describe to me how speed-determining laser works? - If he fails to explain clearly, bring this up in your concluding statement that the officer has little knowledge of how laser units operate, let alone utilize speed-determining laser equipments.

 

- Have you read the operating manual for this laser unit?

 

- Do you agree that the laser unit operates by computing the distance between the laser unit to the subject vehicle, applying the speed of light and the amount of time it takes for the reflected beam to arrive back to its original location? – He should answer yes

 

- What distance is covered within 1 second of time? – He probably will not know, and you can bring up in your concluding statement again that the officer has a lack of laser system knowledge

 

- Are you aware that the laser unit discharges three isolated light beams, where each beam is intended to hit a different spot on the subject vehicle? – He should answer

Yes