Speeding Charge

[paul4469]

I was pulled over a while ago by police who used a gadget in their car to measure my average speed between 2 bridges. Their machine calculated 101mph - I know I was over 70 but nowhere near this ridiculous figure. How can I challenge the accuracy. They said they press button A when I pass Bridge 1 then a different button when they pass it then time how long it takes to catch me ore some gobbledegook which blinded me with technology.Surely they cannot be exactly sure when I passed the 1st bridge if they were a couple of hundred yards behind me.

[MangoPete]

You can ask them for a copy of a photo of the car speeding.
then you can also ask for proof that the machine they used was calibrated correctly. This could have been the reason the speed was too high.
You can challenge it in court, if there is reasonable doubt you can challenge it .
Watch these tricky B'stards, a lot of money is made by them on this scam.
there is a book by a supposed ex police inspector which is meant to give advice on beating the rap. I have a copy, I have two . its crap the info is too old.
Look for some more chat rooms with info on this
good luck

[paul4469]

Thanks for reply - the reason i think the speed is too high is coz they were a few hundred yards behind me and pressed button A when i passed a bridge. How can they know EXACTLY when i was passing this bridge unless they were alongside me. Then again how do they know when i passed the second bridge EXACTLY unless they were alongside. The machine doesnt take photos like the usual cameras it was sitting on their dashboard like a sat/nav tool and they apparently calculated the average speed from a load of complicated figures. I had a slow puncture at the time and that combined with having just overtaken the police car a few minutes earlier and obviously being aware of their presence makes it unlikely that I would be driving at anywhere near the speed they suggested. I have no faith whatsoever in the courts so I fear I will have an uphill struggle to win the case.

[fountain]

I'm afraid you're stuffed here. The machine they used is hooked up to the car and just does distance/time equals speed. Their car measures the distance you travelled and they push buttons to stop and start the 'stopwatch'. They use bridges cos it casts a shadow on the road so it's easy to tell when you went under it, even from a distance. You won't win by saying that they operated the machine incorrectly. There is a course to learn how to operate the machine and at the end of this course you can only pass if you are capable of using it accurately. This will be produced in court if you challenge it. I wouldn't bring up the slow puncture thing - this could be dangerous driving at those speeds!

[kempie]

15 years ago VASCAR inaccuracy was around 2% of actual speed.

The commonly used VASCAR 5000 has reduced this margin of error and anyway The Home Office allows a percentage of error for the overall check and this built into the operating procedure.

The newest model, VASCAR V PLUS, is claimed to be accurate to within �mph as it utilises video footage which can be analysed frame-by-frame.

[BillyNoMates]

Spot on fountain and kempie.

Was caught that way myself (the only time) 14 years ago by VASCAR. You really would be wasting your time attempting to contest it for the reasons already given.

In fact, you will be lucky just to get off with a fine and points vs. a ban.

[JudgeJ]

If you plead guilty to speeding (as I assume you will because the assessment of your speed will have to be more than 30% adrift to bring you back to the 70 mph limit) you can ask for what is known as a “Newton” hearing.

This is held where the defendant pleads guilty to an offence but disputes the “level” maintained by the prosecutor. Speeding is a classic offence where a Newton hearing is appropriate.

You don’t say, but it is unlikely you will have been offered a fixed penalty notice for this offence because of the high speed involved. If you do plead guilty in court and ask for a Newton hearing, just what speed are you going to maintain you were doing? Unless you can cast enough doubt to persuade the Bench that you were doing below about 90mph it is unlikely to have much effect on their decision. It may just sway them away from imposing an immediate ban (which they usually do for 100mph+) and impose four or five points instead.

On the downside you will have to pay considerably increased prosecution costs because they will be asked to produce evidence for evaluation in just the same way as if you had pleaded not guilty.

My advice would be to plead guilty at the first opportunity, get the maximum discount for that, and have done with it. After all, whether you were doing 90 or 101, it was still dangerous and foolish.

[bazzasmithy]

I was caught doing 103mph on a dual carraige way 'A' road, by a police car literally HIDING half way down the 'on' ramp, a position where you cannot see them until you've passed. he pressed a button in his car then caught up to me, this somehow calculated how fast i was going. In this particular case i was travelling at 40mph faster than what the 'machine' said, so this proves (albeit in the opposite way, and luckily for me) that this button pressing system they have is totally inaccurate. i was very lucky to get a �150 fine and 5 points, but not even a sniff of a ban.

[kempie]

I make no comment on your actions bazzasmithy, however your top speed being 140+mph and the police claiming your average speed being 103mph does not prove that their method of measurement was inaccurate, unless you didn't stop and they booked you by pulling alongside and leaning in through the window at over 110mph.

[paul4469]

I have read all these answers with interest and THANK YOU to everyone who made the effort to reply. I know I was not doing 101mph so I know the machine is inaccurate. The police car that measured me was moving and therefore may have miscalculated my speed, as at 70mph i am sure that the human reaction times quoted are not as accurate as those where the human is at a standstill. I have previously stated that I believe i may have exceeded 70mph(foolishly) by a minor margin - 85mph being my top estimate but maintain that as a 50,000+ miles per year professional driver that my discrepancy is far smaller than should be considered normal. I dont feel i have much chance of disproving the faulty machine and the best I can expect is a fair(???) magistrate who will fine me which i will begrudgingly pay and not ban me. Thanks for all the constructive answers once again.

[BillyNoMates]

Well if you are doubting the accuracy of VASCAR on the basis that you were clocked by a Police car in motion I suggest you go and google VASCAR.

Learn how it works a little, and perhaps learn how to drive at a more conservative speed.

Oh, and do let me which court you will be pleading your innocence in and the date. I'd love to hear your defence shot down in flames.