FACT: Police in airplanes can hand out speeding tickets
As I was driving down a remote highway this afternoon I saw a curiosity-inspiring sign. “Speed Limit Enforced By Aircraft”. It immediately induced several silly scenarios to play out in my head. I suppose if you got it up to 260 km/h (160 miles per hour) you could potentially be chased by a Cessna aircraft… but if you then slowed down again you would be resisting arrest?
The fact of the matter, which happens to be what I do best, is that planes are used on long open stretches of highway to observe and report “aggresive drivers”. Where you see these signs, you’ll also notice large white marks along the side of the road. It’s a similar feeling as an ant walking along a yardstick. These marks are used for aerial measurement.
The pilot can watch how fast you go between these white marks to figure out your speed visually. Then they call it in to see if a regular patrol car wants to pick up the chase the old fashioned way and track you down. In the case of commercial vehicles that can be recognized from the air, you could potentially get a speeding ticket in the mail directly from the pilot.
Should you ever find yourself with an aerial-observed infraction (and assuming you had slowed down before the patrol car found you) rumour has it that you’d do well to challenge it in court. Both the patroller and the pilot must be present to testify, or else it is dropped.
- Source: A user discssion forum, though totally unofficial, it was the most thorough source I could find on the topic
Hi, Ryan! The part about the pilot and the officer needing to be present, is not true in all U.S. states – it varies from state to state. The best advice is to avoid breaking the law in the first place, because they can always make a better case if they want to.