Safe Speed Forums

Sunday Life24 December 2006
Police defend speed gun after RM's rap.

Police have defended their use of a speed-detection system to catch motorists after questions were raised by a leading Residential Magistrate.

RM Mark Hamill has questioned the Visual Average Speed Computer and Recorder (VASCAR) speed detection sytem used by cops across the province.

Mr. Hamill has said for a second time in court that there is room for human error in the way the speed is calculated by officers operating the system.

Vascar is a timing computer that assesses the average speed of cars over a distance. It is one of the favoured methods used by police to catch speeders.

According to the Vascar website, officers use a fixed point such as a bridge or a marker on the road as the start point for them to start the system. When the vehicle passes the second position, they then press the button again, giving an instant average speed.

But Mr. Hamill said, after hearing details of another case of a motorist speeding at 101mph, that if human error in this system can be proven scientifically, then speeding charges would be open for contest.

However, police have rejected any criticism of the use of the system. A Police Service spokesman said:" Officers operating Vascar equipment have to attend a week-long course on its opeartion and pass a practical examination before being deemed qualified to use it. Also the equipment itself is subject to rigorous calibration prior to it being deployed and these checks can be verified by examination of the system.

"Vascar is used by many, if not all, UK police forces and, indeed in other parts of the world. It has been used by police in Northern Ireland for over three decades and because of the training required for its operation and the calibration checks, is seen as a reliable piece of equipment."

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Anyone who tells you that nothing is impossible has never bathed in a saucer of water.

Do you need a video camera recoridng to prove the buttons were pressed at the right time?

I would have thought teh key presses would have been imprinted onto the video stream in real time.

The only VASCAR I've seen was just a digital readout, no video, when the BiB invited me into his car to see the evidence!

I think is is an example of the knock-on effect we have been suggesting for a while.

People have lost confidence in cameras because they don't work (from a road safety point of view), they now start to doubt other methods of speed enforcement.

VASCAR is a tool and shouldn't be the primary evidence anyway. Is an unrecorded VASCAR reading even admissible as evidence (in the UK)?

Am I right in assuming (from the wording) this article is from a non-UK source? Or at least not England?

We have had stop-watch average speed over here for the last 20+ years. No recordings and nothing to view. The officer simply divides distance by time to derive speed and books you for the calculated speed.

I was booked about 20 years ago for a speed that ended in 2 decimal places - when I joked "Couldn't you have let me of the .26" they did not even smile, just glared.

The first requirement to becoming a traffic cop in Victoria is a humour lobotomy Ordinary cops are fine - its just the traffic cops that are assholes.

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Ross

Yes I'm a hoon, but only on the track!!!!