Smart Phone Gets Driver Out of a Speeding Ticket 254
Hugh Pickens writes writes "Sahas Katta writes in Skattertech that a traffic cop pulled him over while driving home and gave him a speeding ticket but thanks to his Android, he ended up walking out of traffic court without having to pay a fine or adding a single point to his record. "I fortunately happened to have Google Tracks running when an officer cited me for speeding while heading back home from a friend's place," writes Katta. "The speed limit in the area was a mere 25 miles per hour and the cop's radar gun shockingly clocked me driving over 40 miles per hour." Once in court Katta asked the officer the last time he attended radar gun training, when the device was last calibrated, or the unit's model number — none of which the officer could answer. "I then presented my time stamped GPS data with details about my average moving speed and maximum speed during my short drive home. Both numbers were well within the posted speed limits," says Katta. "The judge took a moment and declared that I was not guilty, but he had an unusual statement that followed. To avoid any misinterpretations about his ruling, he chose to clarify his decision by citing the lack of evidence on the officer's part. He mentioned that he was not familiar enough with GPS technology to make a decision based on my evidence, but I can't help but imagine that it was an important factor.""
My judge throws these out automatically (Score:5, Informative)
If an officer testifying in my jurisdiction's traffic court can't say when they were trained in radar, when their radar was calibrated, and what model of radar they use, the citation is automatically dismissed. I have certifications for all three of those that I present in evidence immediately after giving general testimony. The smart phone is completely irrelevant to this case.
Essentially, lacking the predicate to introduce the radar into evidence, the officer was saying "he was speeding because I said so, and therefore I wrote him a ticket." Of course the judge threw it out.
Re:The smart phone got him off? (Score:5, Informative)
The GPS is irrelevant. There are legal requirements for radar training and gun calibration. This is the standard way to get out of a speeding ticket. You know the whole innocent until proven guilty and the burden of proof is on the state thing.
Re:The smart phone got him off? (Score:3, Informative)
That is the most uninformed comment I've ever seen.
In every constitutional democracy the constitution is ABOVE everything. If a law, local or otherwise contradicts the constitution, it can be declared unconstitutional and derogated. If you have broken a law, and you can prove that the law was unconstitutional, you won't be prosecuted.
You don't need to ask permission to follow the constitution, and while following it, you can (in most countries) disregard laws if they conflict with the constitution.
Re:cool story bro (Score:3, Informative)
GPS doesn't measure speed by looking at how your position changes; it uses the doppler effect, which is fairly accurate.
http://gpsinformation.net/main/gpsspeed.htm [gpsinformation.net]
Re:The glossy phone got him off? (Score:4, Informative)
That's "Bible tracts".
Love,
Grammar Nazi
No, bible tracks. It's tank tracks made out of Bibles and barbed wire. As a tank with Bible tracks drives over an unbeliever demonstrator, there's a chance that they'll repent and be saved, when they can read the Bible while lying crushed in the ground and bleeding to death.
You'd better get your facts straight before you correct spelling errors of other people!