Definitely true in Ontario:
Quote:
“The signage is 100 per cent accurate,” says Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Peter Leon. “The plane flies 1,000 hours a year and we get about 5,000 Highway Traffic Act infractions.”
The signs aren’t just hot air — the OPP’s Cessna 206 has been patrolling above Ontario roads since 2008.
The plane carries at least two officers — the pilot and a spotter. The spotter, well, spots speeders, unsafe passers, and aggressive and impaired drivers.
Then, they radio the report to the ground, where patrol cars are dispatched to intercept the speeders and pull them over, just like in a normal traffic stop.
“They can’t see licence plates from up there,” Leon says. “We give a detailed description of the vehicle — for example, a silver truck with a black tonneau cover.”
Hawkeye, but no radar
The plane doesn’t use radar. All the spotter needs is a stop watch.
“Sometimes you’ll see markings on roadways — the person in the aircraft has a stop watch and times how long cars take to go between the arrows,” Leon says. “They can determine the speed of the vehicle and issue a ticket.”
Do the tickets hold up in court? For example, couldn’t you say you were the wrong silver truck?
“Usually the plane will stay with the vehicle until they know that it’s been stopped,” Leon says.
If the ticket is contested, the spotter and the officer who pulled the car over will have to go to court to testify.
Police generally don’t announce when the plane is going to be on patrol, Leon says.