The Ohio Court of Appeals on Monday ruled on a speeding conviction case, and found that a motorist cannot be convicted of speeding based solely on how fast his car may have sounded.

Daniel Freitag was ticketed on October 18th of 2007 by patrolman Ken Roth while he was driving on US Route 42. Freitag was claimed to be  doing 7-mph over the post 35 speed limit, as clocked by Roth’s radar gun. Roth also asserted, in addition to the radar reading, that he could hear Freitag’s 2006 Lincoln Navigator speeding:

As it approached I could hear the vehicle on the roadway which based on my training and experience it is consistent with a vehicle that was in excess of the posted speed limit.

A trial court judge  found Freitag guilty based on Roth’s testimony and the radar reading. Freitag appealed the verdict on the grounds that the radar evidence had been improperly admitted, which he won, but lost the appeal on the patrolman’s claim that his Lincoln sounded like it was speeding.
A second appeal ridiculing the officer’s assertion that he could determine a speeder by sound was successful, and the case was thrown out. Now Ohio drivers may ply the highways and byways of the state safely with the knowledge that they are immune from the vagaries of the long ear of the law.
Source: [Thenewspaper.com]