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From: stewart@ihlpl.UUCP (R. J. Stewart)
Newsgroups: net.auto,net.legal
Subject: Re: Radar Surveillance
Message-ID: <269@ihlpl.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 7-Aug-85 11:39:39 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihlpl.269
Posted: Wed Aug  7 11:39:39 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 12-Aug-85 03:38:16 EDT
References: <1081@homxa.UUCP> <4891@allegra.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 41
Xref: linus net.auto:6531 net.legal:1642

>> Radar guns should be unconstiutional but the case has never made it to the
>> Supreme Court.         ...    Most
>> motorists obey the speed limit (more than half), a few speed (less than
>> half, the %s don't matter). However, the police indiscriminately use
>> electronic surveillance devices to sample the speed of all cars.  They then
>> apprehend the drivers who are exceeding the limit.

> ...
> If we disallow radar guns, how should speed laws be enforced (for all
> of our safety)?  By helicopter?!  (I couldn't believe it when I first
> saw those signs on the parkway.)

I don't know what signs there are on "the parkway", but helicopters are
a perfectly good way to enforce speeding laws.  Many areas of the
country have special markings on the pavement; officers in aircraft can
calculate a car's speed by seeing how long it takes to cross two
markings.  An alternative to this is the old-fashioned way of following
a suspected speeder in a car, matching speeds.

However, I don't see what the point is in objecting to radar as
"electronic surveillance".  Does this mean that police ought to be
prohibited from observing you with anything other than their natural
senses?  Consider the following cases:

 - Should police be prohibited from using air surveillance to catch
   speeders, since they need a stopwatch to accurately obtain times
   between markers.  Is it different if the stopwatch is mechanical
   instead of electronic?

 - Should speed-matching be prohibited, since a car is at least partly
   electrical?  What if they have one of the new electronic dashboards?

 - Should police be able to use binoculars or cameras to obtain
   evidence?  After all, light is the same as radar, only in a different
   part of the spectrum.

I hope the original poster can clarify their position, giving more
specifics about their objection to radar.

Bob Stewart
ihtnt!stewart