Harry K
We don't know what the legal speed was in this situation.
We've been told that 76 is apparently over the limit (not sure why the cop told the 2'nd driver what the first driver was clocked at). Cop tells 2'nd driver that he must have been doing 70-75. What is legal speed? Is it 65?
What was the visual angle between the cop and the road, and how far away were the cars when the reading and estimate were made?
Cop is on shaky ground if he claims he can gauge speed of a car driving towards him at a narrow angle.
I would argue that by the time the cop clocks the first car and puts the gun down and changes his focus to the second car, the first car has slowed down (by 5 mph? 10?). He sees the distance between the cars are still increasing (perhaps very slowly), but because the first car isin't going 76 any more his judgement regarding how fast the second car is going is now in question.
Combine that with a narrow-angle observation and you've got pure speculation on the part of the cop.
What was the terrain of the road in the area in question? Did both cars come over a hill or around an obstructed curve immediately before the cop gunned the first car? How far back could the cop observe both cars travelling in tandem?
