"Pace" Method Used Improperly-Ticket Dismissed

Posted Thursday, August 26, 2021 by Andrew Charles Huff

A great outcome today in a Contested Hearing where my client was cited for speeding. The officer who cited her noted that he obtained her speed using the “pace” method, or using his car’s speedometer to estimate her speed. This “pace” method is recognized as a valid way to estimate the speed of vehicles by law enforcement in our state.

However, in this case the officer failed to lay a proper foundation when using this “pace” method. Specifically, the proper foundation is to establish the officer “maintained an equal distance between the two vehicles” for a specific distance, thereby using the patrol vehicle’s speedometer to measure another vehicle’s speed. However, in this case the officer simply concluded that he “paced the vehicle and it was shown to be speeding.” The court found this foundation insufficient and dismissed the case.