Ohio Laws out of hand

[klan52]

"In a recent Ohio State Supreme Court decision, the armpit state of America further confirmed its status as the third worst territory in the United States by holding that a driver or motorcyclist can be convicted of speeding purely if it looked to a police officer that the motorist was going too fast.

The decision upholds a lower courts ruling, which held that a driver who challenged a speeding ticket could still be found guilty merely if the trooper stated the driver was “driving to fast” in their estimation.

In a 5-1 decision, Ohio’s highest court ruled that an officer’s visual estimation of speed is sufficient proof to convict a motorist of speeding, as long as the officer has been certified by a training academy, and has experience watching for speeders."

that is one of the most insane laws I have ever heard of, really starting to not like my state.

 

[beaterbaja]

Wow! that sounds like a bunch of crap...especially when I've been told that my bike looks fast just sitting there parked. take it easy up there

 

[Bolt]

I'm flying to cleavland on wednsday!
I'll be sure to complain loudly to evryone I run into about this crap& of course brag about triple digits& lane splitting in Cali

 

[BikerTrash]

I'd fight it in court by dropping a handful of change and ask the cop how fast the penny was moving.

 

[agfish18]

wow...that is all I have to say about that.

 

[Jerry C]

When injustice becomes law then resistance becomes duty...
Thomas Jefferson

 

[delta one]

I'd fight it in court by dropping a handful of change and ask the cop how fast the penny was moving.

9.8m/s^2
LOL

this may be one of the states where cops actually take tests to prove proficiency at estimating speed.
the best way to fight such a ticket it so find when the officer was last tested/"calibrated"

the method is sound for estimating speed, they use visual landmarks with known distances separating them and then divide it by the time it took you to travel between them.
the challenge is added when they are traveling and or looking at your car at a angle other than square, hence the testing.

 

[lawdog]

I may be an Ohio cop but I do not think this is a very smart ruling. Opens the door to alot of bad cases. Our prosecutor would never file on a "yeah I think he was doin about 10 over" verbal statement. That doesn't fly! I would imagine future litigation will overturn this ruling. First time you put me on the stand and show me a couple videos of cars and ask me how fast they were going and my case gets thrown out. Its one thing to watch a thousand cars a day in the same area where you know distance, landmarks, and features so you can accurately gauge speed but I dont see this as a very effective use of law.

 

[konarider94]

9.8m/s^2
LOL

i was thinking 32.2 ft/s^2 but same thing

but the law is pretty bad. i also get a kick out of excessive acceleration. if i dont squeal the tires and the front end stays on the ground what is excessive. where is the limit of acceleration. and how can a cop accurately judge acceleration to a limit that doesnt actually exist.

 

[delta one]

how can a cop accurately judge acceleration to a limit that doesnt actually exist.

I think that law sucks too but lucky for me I have never gotten a ticket for it.

squealing tires tires can be pushed into "breaking traction" but I was stoped once for "excessive acceleration" and "driving beyond conditions" when I was driving through town after a hurricane ripped through; I was actually driving 5 or 10 under so no ticket, I was just asked to slow down even more.

 

[Arkitek]

I cannot see how this is even possible. In order to legally say that someone is guilty in court of speeding the prosecution needs definite proof beyond a shadow of a doubt of the offense... How can they take the word and so called experience and training of an officer as "definitive proof"?

Seems like the courtrooms will be full of people fighting tickets to me... sorry Ohio...