Speed kills. Any law enforcement officer who has worked a vehicular crash scene is only too aware of this reality. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimated that speeding was a factor in 30 percent of fatal crashes in 2012, resulting in the loss of 10,219 lives–a 2 percent increase over the previous year. For young male drivers, the numbers are even higher: 37 percent of crashes for male drivers in both the 15–20 and 21–24 age groups are caused by excessive speed.1
Because of these staggering statistics, speed enforcement is a high priority for the agencies charged with the task of keeping U.S. highways, city streets, and school and construction zones safe. Agencies use a variety of technologies to measure the speed of vehicles, but the most widely deployed are lidar and radar, two technologies that are proven to accurately measure speeds in a variety of situations.
