The most common citations out there are speeding tickets.  There are a few different devices that cops use to monitor speed, including radar, laser, or Accutrak.  Radar guns are the most widespread and common among officers of the law.  Because of this it is important to know about how radar guns clock your speed in order to fight the speeding ticket.  It is also important to know some of the common problems that radar guns have in miscalculating your speed.  Here is a list of some of those common discrepancies you can cite when fighting the speeding tickets.

1. Mechanical Interference.  Many times the heating fan or air conditioning of the police car can throw off readings.  This would also include ignition noises, alternator, rotating signs near the roadway, or anything else mechanical that is near the device that could throw it off.

2. Shadowing.  This is caused when a moving police car is targeting a moving target.  The targeted speed is calculated by subtracting the speed of the cop car with the speed of the target.  This can cause inaccuracies in readings.

3. Panning.  When the hand held radar gun is rotated across the dashboard of the patrol car or the control unit that is mounted to the dash.  Once again this can cause inaccurate readings as well.

4. Microwave or Radio interference.  Ham, CB radio, cell phone, power line, vapor lights, or any other kind of outside source of transmission will throw off calculations.  This is why it is so important that radar guns are re-calibrated every 30-60 days.  There are so many different frequencies that can throw off the gun.

5. Batching.  This happens when the patrol car is either accelerating or braking when the radar gun is still trying to calculate the speed of the target car.

Because of all of these different inaccuracies it is important to ask a lot of questions about the speed tracking device when trying to fight a ticket.  If the gun has not been calibrated recently there is a good chance that the information is incorrect and your case will be dismissed.  It is also important to note how and where the officer clocked your speed.  As was discussed above, if the police officer was in a moving vehicle when he clocked you, there are any number of different variables to be considered.  While these radar guns are fairly amazing in theory they are not perfect, so knowing more about them can help you to avoid getting citations and paying fines that maybe you weren’t guilty of.  Radar speeding tickets can and should be investigated in order to avoid undeserved citations.