i understand what you're trying to say here, but i think the "safety" argument is kind of unwarranted in court. it would be an entirely different story if we're talking about a 291C-101, the basic speed rule violation.
the point i was trying to make was that most motorists don't realize that affirmative defenses aren't very helpful in normal speeding cases. the law clearly states that if you're over the limit, you're in violation. you could try to justify yourself to the court, but ultimately you're still in violation.
although the radar and laser devices themselves probably aren't off, they can give severely inaccurate readings if used improperly, and those variances can be significantly more than 3 mph. regardless, this issue is somewhat off topic.
and in response to the issue you raised about the speedometers the issue has already been addressed on multiple occasions by the appellate courts (for a recent decision, see State v. Fitzwater, 277 P.3d 520 (2010)). the law doesn't care whether your speedometer was reading accurately or not. what does matter is whether you were traveling faster than the posted speed limit. If i were a prosecutor, i would argue that, if the motorist knew that there was a certain amount of variance in the output reading of the speedometer and the car's actual speed, then shouldn't the motorist have known to drive much slower than the limit so that the inaccuracies would not become a detriment later?
again, i'm not trying to argue whether the law should be this or that. I'm merely pointing out that the law is unambiguous and, because of that fact, it is difficult to prevail on certain arguments in court.
I agree that if you're speeding, you're speeding and you're breaking the law........but the argument of traffic flow is a valid one.
Also I still don't think that a misused radar, lidar, or laser is going to be off by over 5 mph at 60 mph, that's a 8.3%+ error. It could be miscalibrated but misused?.....unlikely. Rather if you get a "bad" reading it's more likely that the officer shot another car and not you, it doesn't take much to miss the front plate or headlights.
I'm pointed out facts why the speedometers can be off. I'm not talking about guys changing tire sizes I'm talking about how oem equipment can be off and how the same tire will read different speeds during its life. With regards to the law doesn't care, I again must disagree, this is within
the discretion of the judge. Many many people have gotten off due to this. Heck I've heard stories about guys following officers, the officer pulls over then tickets the person following and those get thrown out despite the person speeding.........the reason, because the driver had a reasonable expectation that they were keeping up with the flow of traffic (set by the LEO).
This being said I do agree that the law is/can be ambiguous. There are always going to be situations that are not taken into account my the lawmakers when bills are drafted/approved.
It really all comes down to who you pull as a judge the day you go to court.