Nick

Copied form the Association of British Drivers mailing list:

Sir, - I was stopped in October 2003 by Cheshire Police for doing 60mph on Weston Road that leads into Crewe. Naturally the police officer gave me a ticket and indicated I would be fined and probably get a ban of around three months for exceeding the limit by 30 mph, as this makes it an automatic ban. After checking for advice it seemed there was nothing I could do, even though I was convinced I had not been travelling at anything like that speed. Convinced I was innocent I hired a solicitor who put me in touch with an expert as I had stopped at a set of lights and there were doubts my car could go that fast in the distance to the police officer. Unfortunately, theory said I could, with a few metres to spare, so I was advised to plead guilty. However the expert's assessment did highlight another couple of points that may be of interest to readers. The officer had to observe my car for three seconds on the road which due to trees and street lights, etc was very difficult if I was
actually doing 60mph as he stated. I had also noticed the police officer was the driver and was sitting in his car catching myself and several other motorists that night from this position. This had initially been ignored as being irrelevant, and other police officers said this was fine - the radar guns work equally well in and out of vehicles. However the expert in my case knew a police officer is not allowed to sit in a car and use a hand held radar gun to obtain a legal reading. Because I was convinced I had not been doing 60mph and was prepared to spend over £1,300 to prove the point, after nine months the police have finally dropped the case due to 'a lack of evidence'. However there were a number of other motorists who now have points on their licences when they shouldn't. I'm sure there are also a lot of other readers who would not be aware that a police officer is not allowed to sit in his or her vehicle when performing such a speed check. I hope it is worth warning other motorists, especially those others caught on the same stretch of road on the same night as myself.

ariel

Leslie

Glad they dropped it, thanks for the tip.

Les

hedgehog

I thought there was no problem with an officer sitting in the car, in fact as I recall some speed measuring devices can be used through the window but then I noticed the mention of "radar." Also, the 3 seconds to get a reading figure applied to the old radar devices but not to the modern laser devices. I don't know how many of these old radar guns there are still in service but I'd guess that it isn't many.

With this in mind, and I haven't checked up on this, I'd guess that this only applies to the old radar guns. On a positive note however this does demonstrate the importance of fighting every ticket. The police withdrew because of "lack of evidence" and my bet is they told the truth on this. Even if the defendant hadn't gone with experts etc. it is possible that if he had fought he would have won as perhaps they just literally had no evidence against him.

Another interesting point is that many of these radar guns have a calibration button which will display a set speed. In my experience this speed is usually 59mph give or take. So, it is possible that the defendant in this case was done by a copper who pressed the calibrate button on the radar gun, I personally know of one person to whom this happened. Watch your backs and fight every ticket.

Nick

I agree with your points Hedgehog. I think the original intention was to encourage other people who had already been convicted in this way to appeal their convictions.