Is anything governs "speed traps"?

Question

If the cop is sitting at the side of the road and monitoring a speed of passing cars, there is probably nothing illegal about it. But are there any rules that govern that activity? For instance, can he just point his radar on EVERY passing car? Or maybe he has to “choose” the car because he suspects it of speeding? Where would I look for these rules? Are there state laws? (I’m interested in the state of New York) Any local laws or regulations?

Don't get so upset, I did not mean to accuse of any police officer in anything illigal or immoral.
Of course, they can dress like clowns or constraction workers, hide behind the bushes or whatever else they can come up with...
What I'm looking for is: does officer need to see the car before he starts using his radar? Does he need to "lock" the radar on the vehicle? Especially if the vehicle is in the pack of other moving cars?
By the way, since I noticed some very experienced people here, how much time would you estimate the officer needs to do this? 5 sec, 10sec, 30 sec?
I have nothing but respect for law enforcement.

Answer 1

The short answer is that the police can do what ever they want to catch speeders. They use radar, laser and in some places air craft to measure speed and catch speeders.

There are no rules like "if you are clocking people you must be in a marked car and visible to the public".

You can dress up in a clown suite and sit by the road in what appears to be a clown car and clock cars if you want.

They can clock every car.... every tenth car... or just say Fords if they want. And if they clock a car and its speeding, they can decide not to stop it at all.

So, no, no, no........... there are no rules except this:

If the car is speeding, and you clock it.... by what ever means.... you can write the driver a ticket. If the car is not speeding...... Then you can not give the driver a ticket.

*EDIT

As an edit to your additional info: I am not mad I am only trying to give you a factual answer. Maybe my attempt to answer with fact in a short an sweet manner sounded like I was scolding you. Sorry, that was not my intent at all.

That said, here is a non-complicated answer.... Modern lasers used by police have a system where the officer looks through the lens and it has a red dot targeting system. They can target an individual car in a pack of many. The read out gives the speed for that car / target and that target ONLY. It also displays the distance in feet and inches of how far away it was when it was targeted.

It takes about one second to get the speed reading once the officer aims at the target and activates the laser. It’s very fast.

Hope that clears it up for you.

Answer 2

Well, to start off, there is a difference between a "speed trap" and heavy enforcement. Speed traps are generally areas where the speed limit is set unusually low for some reason.

For example, a street that is 55 in the county, but once it hits city limits it drops to 35 even when all other factors are the same (traffic, road condition, turns, ect)

Heavy enforcement is just police watching an area closely. There is nothing illegal or even unethical (IMO) about that unless they are writing tickets for 2-3 MPH over.

Anyways, what you describe your post. Nothing in the law governs which car the officer should check. However, it is very easy to tell when a car is going faster then the speed limit. So officers are more likely to notice the faster moving cars.

Answer 3

I can't answer you about New York law, but the CA vehicle code defines what they consider a speed trap in CA. Check in the New York vehicle code for such a definition.

CA vehicle code 40802:

(a) A "speed trap" is either of the following:
(1) A particular section of a highway measured as to distance and
with boundaries marked, designated, or otherwise determined in order
that the speed of a vehicle may be calculated by securing the time it
takes the vehicle to travel the known distance.
(2) A particular section of a highway with a prima facie speed
limit that is provided by this code or by local ordinance under
subparagraph (A) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section
22352, or established under Section 22354, 22357, 22358, or 22358.3,
if that prima facie speed limit is not justified by an engineering
and traffic survey conducted within five years prior to the date of
the alleged violation, and enforcement of the speed limit involves
the use of radar or any other electronic device that measures the
speed of moving objects. This paragraph does not apply to a local
street, road, or school zone.

Answer 4

we can pretty much enforce the law as we see fit. I have heard departments use an officer dressed in construction gear on a cherry picker running radar and calling in his partner in a marked vehicle. There are no laws saying our lights have to be on, or our radar has to be on every car.

Answer 5

The only one I know of is in Pennsylvania, only State troopers are allowed to use speed radars. I think it is because the state wants control over the calibration of the instruments and doesn't want local yokels setting up unreasonable speed traps.

Answer 6

THERE ARE NO RULES GOVERNING TRAFFIC EXCEPT IF THE JURISDICTION HE IS IN IS LEGAL.(STATE TROOPERS PATROL STATE HIGHWAYS, LOCAL JURISDICTIONS HAVE NO RIGHT TO SET UP A SPEED TRAP ON FREEWAY, UNLESS THEY WORKING IN COOPERATION WITH SATE PATROL FOR A EMPHASIS PATROL.

USUALLY AN OFFICER IS CLOCKING ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD AND AHEAD ARE THREE OR FOUR CARS WAITING INSTRUCTIONS ON WHOM TO STOP.

Answer 7

I believe he can only cite those that are speeding for speeding. Beyond that, it's all fair game