Traffic pacing is a traffic control technique used to slow down traffic to facilitate short-duration work operations without stopping traffic completely. It involves putting patrol vehicles out in front of traffic with emergency lights on at about five-minute intervals. Traffic pacing is used to ensure the smooth flow of traffic in a variety of scenarios, such as controlling traffic situations, especially complex ones such as gridlock following a major event. Traffic pacing keeps everything moving at a smooth and steady pace, so everyone has the best chance to get where theyre going on time. Traffic control officers pace or slow the traffic to a speed that provides approximately 20-30 minutes to perform the overhead construction. Pacing is also a method often used by officers to determine whether a driver is speeding. However, in order to properly pace a vehicle, the officer must take certain steps, such as maintaining the same distance between his cruiser and the defendant’s vehicle.