Posted on 07/18/2008 12:36:51 AM PDT by Schnucki
While an 11-year old, Louisville, Kentucky boy is using a toy radar gun to get drivers to slow down through his neighborhood, the police are finding that real radar guns might not be a match for GPS--at least not when contested in court.
According to a press release issued by Rocky Mountain Tracking, an 18-year old man, Shaun Malone, was able to successfully contest a speeding ticket in court using the data from a GPS device installed in his car. This wasn't just any old make-a-left-turn-100-feet-ahead-onto-Maple-Street GPS; this was a vehicle tracking GPS device--the kind used by trucking fleets--or in this case, overprotective parents. The device was installed in Malone's car by his parents, and the press release makes no mention if the teenager knew that the device was installed in his vehicle at the time.
No matter, because Malone knew by the time he had to show up in court to contest the speeding ticket for going 17-mph over the posted 45-mph speed limit. While the police clocked him going 62-mph, the GPS's data in fact showed him driving at the 45-mph speed limit. In an initial trial-by-affidavit, Malone was found guilty of speeding. GPS expert, Dr. Stephen Heppe wrote a report that essentially said that the GPS data was not accurate enough to contest the accuracy of the radar gun. Malone appealed the decision and had his day in court. At trial, things played out differently:
"However, when he took the stand to begin his testimony, Dr. Heppe corrected that written report, saying that the Rocky Mountain Tracking device was "very" accurate, to within a couple of meters on location and to within 1 mph on speed. Dr. Heppe also pointed out that the GPS device released instantaneous data, and not data averaged over a distance."
Needless to say, with Dr. Heppe's revised testimony, Malone was found innocent of speeding.
Obviously, Rocky Mountain Tracking's motivation for publicizing this incident is to promote the accuracy of its RMT Rover GPS device. But it also brings up a larger issue: The sophistication of vehicle telematics is increasing all the time. Are we now at the point that the data generated from our personal location devices (such as GPS in cell phones and in-car navigation devices) is considered reliable enough to help exonerate us from false accusations? But isn't this also a slippery slope, where the same data can be used to incriminate us as well? It's one thing for parents to keep a close eye on their kids, but what happens when jealous spouses are tracked, or law enforcement uses the data to know where you've been. When does it become an invasion of privacy? Tell us what you think.
I wonder what this says about the accuracy of the radar guns? Isn’t it true radar guns have to be calibrated for accuracy? So what happen here?
As an old military radar tech, I'm going to suggest that officer Fife did a rolling stop, and that his vehicle was still moving when he took his reading - giving relative velocity - not absolute velocity.
I am also going to suggest officer Fife should be reprimanded, and pay all court costs as well as all of young Mr. Malone's legal fees.
I'm not holding my breath though.
Is that morse code in your tagline?
Pretty clever tagline, IMHO.
../.-—/..-/.../-/..-./../—./..-/.-././-../../-/-—/..-/-
../.- - -/..-/.../-/..-./../- -./..-/.-././-../../-/- - -/..-/-
-.- -/.- -/./-./././-../- -./- - -/-../-/- - -/...././.-../.- -./..-/...
I could see the day when all cars have GPS, and when you go over a speed limit, cross a solid line, fail to complete stop, you automatically get mailed a ticket.
You know...
for the children.
the radar guns have to be recalibrated each day and many officers are in a hurry when they get out to work or forget to do it. lots to remember out on the street
Yep the little sh!t had the nerve to fight back against the government's secondary revenue collection arm - the police. And furthermore he won . How dare he.
I know that if you are an 18-year-old in New Jersey who gets a major ticket like this, you can expect your insurance premiums to go through the overhead. The kid really had no choice but to fight it. It could have been thousands of dollars a year.
LE and sports Radar have very low power and therefore are exempt from a station or operators license.
There also is the human factor, like picking out the wrong car. Was the GPS calibrated???
Full disclosure is important in these cases...
LE radar reads the target when the Cop is moving or stationary. In the moving mode the radar transmit signal is split to read the Cop car speed as it is transmitted toward the target, and fed in to a discriminator circuit with the target's signal, where the cop car speed is subtracted, resulting the target's speed.
Your statement is wrong. The tuning forks do not calibrate the unit, only verifies it is operating within specs. Your statement is written as if by turning the tuning fork the unit, parameters have been adjusted to a permanent reading of 5-7 MPH high.
If that is what you are saying you do not know what you are talking about.
I would do the same, even more. As a matter of principle.
I wonder what this says about the accuracy of "expert testimony."
In Pennsylvania, local police are not allowed to use radar guns due to the potential misuse of the same.
State Police officers receive recurring training on proper use of radar....something local police typically skimp on.
A) You didn’t really read what I wrote.
B) Methinks thou doth protest a bit too much.
ANY speed measuring device can be misused or abused, especially when the cop is under pressure to produce revenue.
and when not verified daily or recalibrated (in a lab) when needed or logged properly and while used is why you can refute the evidence, human error loses most cases.
Used properly, the radar guns are accurate enough that a debate whether 62 mph or 45 mph can never happen unless something else is amiss.
I have 4 sons, 17 to 25 years old now and I have seen DAILY problems with both local and state LEOs who seem to enjoy nothing more than hassling a punk kid to remind the kid who has the power.
We have nearly daily attempts to cite them for "loud exhaust" when they have completely legal (50 state legal) exhaust that isn't even as loud as my fully stock Chevy pick up. We have several instances of cops pulling them over just to lecture them about the front air dam on their car being "illegal" and I've had one charged with a speeding violation that was so absurd the prosecuting attorney threw it out with a look at one photograph of the alledged spot where the incident supposedly happened (no room for detail here, but suffice to say the charge was rediculously fabricated).
Cops have egos
Cops love to excercise authority and feed that ego
Cops enjoy intimidating kids
and last but not least, we all know it.
I can go on with examples, but you all get the point.
Agreed
That day has already come to Montgomery County, Maryland (one of the collar counties to Washington DC). No, we don't all have GPS systems, though if you note the number of blue lights shining from car dashboards at night you'll realize that there are quite a few. Instead local government has helped us all maintain safety by putting traffic cameras aaaaaall over the county. You have to be extremely careful now.
But as you say, it's "for the children." That's all that's important, right?
I get the point and I can assure you that your local officers are in no way unique.
The kop had it in for the kid?
Key words and phrases in your statement, TRICK, CLIBRATION, WHILE DOING THE CALIBRATION.
The tuning forks do not calibrate anything. They verify the unit is operating within it's designed parameters.
You still do not know what you are talking about, and attempting to mislead the readers of this thread.
This tells me you are simply unwilling to admit the obvious.
Tuning forks are not used to calibrate the units in the lab or in the field.
Give it up, you are speaking outside of your knowledge base.
Pop: Junior, come here I want to speak with you about the GPS data tonight. See this chart? Shows that you left here and drove 80mph over to Pastor Miller's house where you picked up Peggy, were there for 2 minutes, then drove to the dry cleaners off the Parkway which is right next to the Package Store and spent 1/2 hour there, then drove 8 blocks north and stopped Burton's Pharmacy for 2 minutes, then drove 82 mph to the lake where you stayed all evening. When you left the lake and took Peggy home you drove 30mph the whole way. Do you have anything to tell me?
Junior: gulp
One time I had a cop swing around from the opposite bound lane to stop me. Had me going 80. the interesting thing was I was doing about 72-73... while the car that just passed me on the left was doing about 80.
I've always wondered about tuning forks. Since a tuning fork vibrating at a certain frequency causes the radar to display a certain speed, couldn't a really loud stereo give a false reading? I mean vibration is vibration, right?
Grow a clue, will ya?
http://www.pacode.com/secure/data/067/chapter105/s105.15.html
Just one of many, many such documents.
From the link,
(iv) Adjust square wave output of function generator, to switching level of pin diode modulator. While observing frequency counter, adjust frequency of function generator so that device being tested indicates 55 mph. (v) Slowly increase attenuation of microwave variable attenuator, until speed reading of 55 mph of device being tested becomes erratic. (vi) Readjust position of device for maximum coupling.
You may be able to read, but you don't understand what you are reading.
BYE
No body is perfect. Because there are so many targets out there, I never guessed which one was the offender. That said after you have run radar for a few months you get a feeling for how fast a car is going by a visual, your statement, “a car going about 80” is about as accurate as it gets. Could have been 85, 78 etc. Then there the things which effect the speedo...rear tire size, bad speedo etc.
I had a cruiser where this occurred, correction was to run the fan a lower speed or not at all.
Looking at this from the speeder's perspective, you could potentially blast a loud noise, rendering the radar unusable.
Tell me you're not serious. Please.
I don't know if this is a common thing, but by 14 year old boys and 19 year old girl have had several similar experiences of late.
I don’t think it was the fans noise as much as the fan being in the area of the antenna, interrupting the transmit and or the received signal.
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