Most speeding tickets and reckless driving by speed tickets in Virginia involve one of three police speed measuring devices: lidar, radar, or pacing. All three techniques have their weaknesses and all require that an officer follow certain procedures to verify the accuracy of their speed measuring device. Understanding those requirements, how those devices work, and what their limitations are is important to any speeding or reckless driving defense.
The Virginia state troopers and some of the local law enforcement officers will write on your ticket which speed measurement device/technique they used. In the notes section of your Virginia Uniform Summons the officer will write: "S-radar" for stationary radar; "M-radar" for moving radar; "Lidar", "L" or "Laser" for LIDAR and "P" or "Pace" for pacing.
The "tracking history" is an essential part of any speeding ticket no matter the type of speed measuring device an officer uses. The tracking history is a series of observations that the officer makes in order to verify that the speeding ticket was accurate.
A proper tracking history has three elements: