Can an officer write a speeding ticket without radar?
Yes. Most courts have ruled that a trained officer can visually estimate the speed of a vehicle with some degree of reliability. Speed estimations are usually a part of radar operator training and some officers become quite skilled at this. There may be times when an officer sees what he knows to be a speeder traveling well over the posted limit but the radar is not positioned to obtain a reading, or maybe he has no radar at all. This does not prevent him from stopping the motorist and issuing a citation unless there is a specific local law or policy prohibiting it. Radar is not the only mechanical means of obtaining a vehicle’s speed. An officer armed with a stopwatch can check vehicles traveling over a known distance quite reliably too although this rather old method is seldom used today.
