Safe Speed Forums

Hello, wondering if anyone can offer me any advice or help.

Due to attend court a week on Monday in Derbyshire because I have decided to challenge an alleged speeding offence.

I was apparently detected going at 40mph in a 30mph limit back in November 2005 from a fixed, unmanned camera. I gave my details as the driver and when I recieved the conditional offer of a fixed penalty I wrote to the police, explaining that I am generally extremely vigilant about driving within the speed limit and asking for all the evidenc that supported the allegation including photographic evidence, calibration and how speed is calculated. As I genuinely do not know whether I was speeding (and my own knowledge of my driving and history (unblemished record) would support that I wasn't) I felt that I shoud be provided with as much proof as possible so that I could make an informed choice about whether to accept the offer of a fixed penalty.

I was then sent, photographic evidence, calibration certificate (Gatso: radar type 24; traffic camera type AUS) and a letter explaining that my speed was clocked by the radar as 40mph (this was cited on the original documents) and corroborated by the distance travelled over the road markings in 0.5 seconds. The letter clearly states that the distance travelled over the markings (1m apart) corresponds to a speed of 40.3mph. However, I believe that this second figure has been wrongly calculated, on the basis that I had travelled 9m in 0.5 secs, having passed over 9 of the road markings. By my reckoning, passing over 9 of the road markings gives a distance of 8m and a corresponding speed of 35.8mph.

So I have a number of questions please

If I am right in my calculations, is the discrepancy between the radar and the photographic evidence large enough to discredit the accuracy of either/both? Won't the magistrates just say well both of these figures say you were going over 30mph. Am I calculating this correctly?

Why is corroborative evidence used for the radar figure - is this on its own, unreliable and what is the basis for this?

The other reason why I decided to challenge this in court, is that although I was sent a calibration certificate for the radar type 24 and traffic camera type AUS with a serial number for each of these on the one certificate, there is absolutely nothing on the certificate to specifiy the location of the camera. I rang the Central Ticket Office in question to query this and to ask for some sort of print out or evidence that would show that the calibration evidence relate to this camera. I was told that they didn't have any evidence of this; it was all done on a database on their computer and couldn't provide a hard copy of anything. I asked how they would go about proving this in court and was told that the only way to do this would be to unscrew the device and bring it into court (apparently the serial number would correspond to the certificate). But I suppose then, they would actually have to show evidence that the camera that was in court had come from the specific location.

So I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing, very worried that I could end up with large court costs and more than the 3 points and £60 that I was offered. But I really don't think I was speeding, I have grave doubts about the accuracy of their evidence and don't see why I should feel bullied into admitting to something that I may well not have done.

Grateful for any comments and help.

Get over to pepipoo about what to do.

http://www.pepipoo.com/

Proving you were speeding at a lower speed does not seem likely to help in your case.

If it should happen to you again ask for a copy of the evidence under the Data Protection Act once you accept you are the driver.

Oh !, If you can, go and check that the speed signs were in order. If not take some pictures. I believe you can use a digital camera so long as you don't edit the pictures in any way.

http://www.abd.org.uk/speed_limit_signs.htm

Are the markings really 1 metre? Have you checked? 5 feet seems to the common distance between marks, but there is no national standard.

_________________
Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

It depends on the exact start and end points within each marked section. You may have travelled 8.1 meters, you may also have travelled 9.9 meters. I’m sure someone will do an accurate assessment for you if you were to post the photos (with your particulars edited out)


IIRC, the readings must be within 10% of each other for the conviction to stand. If so then the lower figure is used for the prosecution.


Hell yes. Among other phenomenon, there have been recent reports of radar based Gatso being triggered by stationary trucks, this is known as the ‘shutter effect’. Do a Google.