Legal Question in Traffic Law in North Carolina

North Carolina. Me and six of my friends where riding our motorcycles when we where pulled over by a NC State Trooper. He issued us all speeding tickets for going 77mph in a 55mph zone. I asked him which one of us did his radar clock going 77mph and he stated "all of us". How can this be so if a radar is designed to detect the fastest moving object out of a group of objects? This would mean that if im passed by a car that is speeding that i am going just as fast as the speeder at the moment the speeder passes me. I feel if the Trooper cant specify the one motorcycle that was alledgedly clocked going 77mph, all the tickets should be dismissed on the grounds that a radar can only clock one vehicle at a time. He clocked us while traveling in the onbound lane so he wasnt pacing our speed.


Asked on 1/29/12, 8:23 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Your understanding of how radar works is incorrect. Moreover, NC State Highway Patrol Troopers are intensively trained to visually estimate speed to within plus or minus 3 miles of the actual speed - even for groups of vehicles. Your odds of these tickets being dismissed are almost non-existant. You certianly have the option of going to trial but when the trooper takes the stand and testifies, his word will taken by most judges as the gospel truth and you will most likely be found guilty of speeding in some fashion - welcome to good 'ol boy justice in North Carolina. Your best bet is to bite the bullet and hire an experienced traffic attorney to take care of this ticket so that you may not have an insurance increase or license points.

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Answered on 1/29/12, 9:42 am


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