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- Title
Speeding Conviction Based On Radar Device Is Reversed.
- Authors
Ginsburg, Allen J.
- Abstract
This article looks at the traffic violation case Biesser versus Town of Holland in Virginia in 1967. Defendant was found guilty of speeding. At the trial he was accused of operating his automobile at 48 mph in a 35 mph zone on the basis of a radar check by the arresting officer. Also, this policeman testified that he could not estimate the speed of the defendant's motor vehicle by any other means except the radar. Virginia law provides that the results of radar checks shall be accepted as prima facie evidence of speed when speed is at issue. On appeal the state supreme court reversed. Noting that its prior decisions require that the Commonwealth prove that the device used for measuring speed had been properly set up and tested for accuracy, the court felt that the police had not met their burden in this case. Over objection, the arresting officer testified that he tested the reliability of the radar unit by means of a calibrated tuning fork. He further testified that the calibration was checked and found to be accurate by a member of another police force whose name he did not know. The court held that the accuracy of the device was not established since there was no evidence as to how the tuning fork was used. Nor was any evidence offered as to its reliability except for this inadmissible hearsay given by the police officer.
- Subjects
VIRGINIA; TRAFFIC violations -- Cases; AUTOMOBILE speed; DETECTION of radar in speed limit enforcement; TUNING forks
- Publication
Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology & Police Science, 1968, Vol 59, Issue 2, p278
- ISSN
0022-0205
- Publication type
Article