Chicago Court Throwing Out LIDAR Speeding Tickets

bridgeco writes "Chicago Traffic Court Judges have been throwing out speeding cases in which the driver's speed was measured with a LIDAR. Judges are asking for a special 'Frye Hearing' to determine the accuracy of these devices. Many motorists nabbed for speeding by a laser gun, instead of radar, are seeing their tickets thrown out at Chicago's traffic court because of a legal issue that the city's law department has been unable to overcome. Within the past year judges in Cook County Traffic Court in Chicago determined that speeds captured by lidar were not admissible because the devices had not been proven scientifically reliable in an Illinois court, said Jennifer Hoyle, spokeswoman for the law department, which prosecutes most speeding tickets in the city." (Here's some background on LIDAR from Wikipedia.)

Comments

Just gone one in FL

[FunkyELF]

I just got a radar ticket in FL and plan on fighting it.
The thing that pisses me off is that these cops aren't policing anything, they're tax collecting.
Florida is one of 50 states yet hands out 15% of all traffic tickets.
They think they're doing good and generating revenue but they're hurting everyday innocent Americans.
When you hand out tickets, only the greedy insurance companies win.

I don't even think I was speeding, they said I was doing 62 in a 45 but my ticket has both of those fields blank... possibly because he "cut me a break" and gave me a "violation of a traffic control device" (the speed limit sign).
They always say they're cutting you a break but they're not.... its still points and your insurance goes up.
All states, and Florida in particular need some kind of reform, or give the police more money so they don't need to go stealing it from safe drivers.
Go out and stop real crime.

Re:Good

[Stargoat]

We're talking about science here, not your night emissions.

Why?

[dangitman]

Why is Slashdot so obsessed with reporting about speeding tickets and other moving violations? It doesn't seem to fit particularly well with the stated intention of the site.