Student Uses Smart Phone To Beat Speeding Ticket

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Since we regularly post "tech FAIL" stories, I thought you guys might like a "technology WIN!" story for a change!

The cop cited him for going over 40 mph in a 25 zone, which he was too frazzled to contest at the time. After he had cooled down and parked his car later, he remembered that he had been running the My Tracks app by Google which records your GPS info and speed.
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This is why I think radarless speeding tickets should be thrown out by law

Cops too often hand out tickets to people that don't deserve them simply to meet a quota which is bullcrap, and since they passed the law that cops DON'T need a radar to issue a speeding ticket, its just gotten worse
 
With all the technology out today why can't they make a radar/laser gun with a digital camera built in. When they clock you it takes a picture with your speed imposed on it. Then there is nothing to contest in court and everyone is happy. You get nailed and that's that. Hell, make it a requirement.
 
Hrmm wonder how this would have escalated if the judge dismissed the GPS data let the ticket stand. I am sure the kid would have then gotten a lawyer and sued for $$, of course that is if the data on his phone is legitimate but proving that would require cooperation of Google and the app company.
 
HydroBudz said:
With all the technology out today why can't they make a radar/laser gun with a digital camera built in. When they clock you it takes a picture with your speed imposed on it. Then there is nothing to contest in court and everyone is happy. You get nailed and that's that. Hell, make it a requirement.
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No edit...

Anyways why take a picture? Let the camera roll, my high school physics class taught me that you can figure the rate of speed at which and object it moving with nothing more than a 10 second video clip and proper scale marker. Set a scale, map out some points in the video, do a little math and boom you have the speed.
 
HydroBudz said:
With all the technology out today why can't they make a radar/laser gun with a digital camera built in. When they clock you it takes a picture with your speed imposed on it. Then there is nothing to contest in court and everyone is happy. You get nailed and that's that. Hell, make it a requirement.
Click to expand...

Because there needs to be documented proof that the radar is calibrated right, a photo with your speed watermarked on it is not proof of that. It's proof that the radar claims you were going "X" speed.
 
I've been using MyTracks for a while now, but I usually only use it to track my bike rides :) Good to know that app is actually useful for other stuff.
 
Actually reading the article shows that the kid didn't get out by his smartphone's "evidence." Rather, he had a somewhat dumb cop that didn't keep radar calibration logs, so the original speeding evidence was more or less thrown out. That and his calm demeanor. The whole "android saved the day!" is just his romantic idealization of the event.
 
Valagard said:
This is why I think radarless speeding tickets should be thrown out by law

Cops too often hand out tickets to people that don't deserve them simply to meet a quota which is bullcrap, and since they passed the law that cops DON'T need a radar to issue a speeding ticket, its just gotten worse
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This would be the revenue enhancement law :(
 
I wouldn't be able to get out of one with my data. 90 in a 55 for daily commuting and cops still pass me.
 
I use this app off and on. It's only as accurate as your connection. Just think if it dropped the GPS. Won't show the true speed.

I also use speedview. Decent but no where near the best.
 
Thanks for the real explanation. I would think data from a personal smartphone would be hard to enter in court, too easy to edit.
 
Mindflux said:
Because there needs to be documented proof that the radar is calibrated right, a photo with your speed watermarked on it is not proof of that. It's proof that the radar claims you were going "X" speed.
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They would still be calibrated like normal. There would just be no "it wasn't me you clocked going that fast" excuse any more. And the court would have hard evidence rather than taking a cops word for it and some calibration paperwork that doesn't mean shit.
 
Police will soon start confiscating smart phones, and charge those who use them with trumped up charges. Like they are doing with video cameras, that are used to catch corrupt police.
 
They should use a similar app against you to rack up the big money.

Every time you go 1 mph over the speed limit, your car phones up the police station and they mail you out a ticket.
 
Mayson said:
They should use a similar app against you to rack up the big money.

Every time you go 1 mph over the speed limit, your car phones up the police station and they mail you out a ticket.
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its plus or minus 15 in CA depending on the conditions and hour of the day.
 
Asacolips said:
Actually reading the article shows that the kid didn't get out by his smartphone's "evidence." Rather, he had a somewhat dumb cop that didn't keep radar calibration logs, so the original speeding evidence was more or less thrown out. That and his calm demeanor. The whole "android saved the day!" is just his romantic idealization of the event.
Click to expand...
+1 I'm not sure how it works in CA but here in VA where I practice law if the officer cannot show certificates that their radar equipment was calibrated before and after their shift the citation will be dismissed. If I tried to present evidence from a smartphone to any judge I practice in front of I would get laughed out of the courtroom. I don't think that his phone had anything to do with the dismissal.
 
Jutsu said:
No edit...

Anyways why take a picture? Let the camera roll, my obsession with Kennedy Assassination support group taught me that you can figure the rate of speed at which <bullets> and objects moving with nothing more than a 10 second grainy, aged video clips and proper scale marker. Set a scale, grab some beer, start drinking, map out some points in the video, watch the video again and again, do a little math and boom you have the speed of the CIA's eight bullets and rough 3d translation of a 2d image.
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Edited for Craziness.
 
As a traffic cop, I can tell you that this is total BS. I assure you I have seen probably 50 people try to use a GPS type device as evidence in a courtroom as a defense. The problem is, our patrol cars have certain requirements that must be met in order for a radar or car to be used in determining speed. Radar calibration, speedometer calibration, and training. Of course, Im in Florida and not Liberal California, but unless you have some certification paperwork showing your GPS is more accurate than my car/radar, you lose, every single time. However, the way to beat a speeding ticket every time is easy.... Dont speed.
 
ReconSniper said:
As a traffic cop, I can tell you that this is total BS. I assure you I have seen probably 50 people try to use a GPS type device as evidence in a courtroom as a defense. The problem is, our patrol cars have certain requirements that must be met in order for a radar or car to be used in determining speed. Radar calibration, speedometer calibration, and training. Of course, Im in Florida and not Liberal California, but unless you have some certification paperwork showing your GPS is more accurate than my car/radar, you lose, every single time. However, the way to beat a speeding ticket every time is easy.... Dont speed.
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This

You cant require one side to jump through hoops and show equipment is up to par calibrated etc and then let the other side use a personal device without requireing the same proofs. I dont even use a radar if I can help it I pace people make the judge call me a liar.. works better then using equipment which the judge can then call faulty instead.
 
molson3530 said:
+1 I'm not sure how it works in CA but here in VA where I practice law if the officer cannot show certificates that their radar equipment was calibrated before and after their shift the citation will be dismissed. If I tried to present evidence from a smartphone to any judge I practice in front of I would get laughed out of the courtroom. I don't think that his phone had anything to do with the dismissal.
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What part of VA do you practice in and what specialties? I may need a lawyer soon.
 
My battery dies too fast for me to keep the GPS on ;\. But good for him.
 
dajet24 said:
This

You cant require one side to jump through hoops and show equipment is up to par calibrated etc and then let the other side use a personal device without requireing the same proofs. I dont even use a radar if I can help it I pace people make the judge call me a liar.. works better then using equipment which the judge can then call faulty instead.
Click to expand...

Well, a good lawyer would then request you show that the speedometer on the cruiser had been calibrated recently as well. You are ALWAYS dependent on some technology to measure speed -- which is why proving speeding less than 5 miles or so over the limit is almost impossible.

Which brings up the next point, from a legal standpoint, making a case stick requires PROOF, but getting a case thrown out only requires DOUBT. The old, theoretical "presumption of innocence" thing... even for a bench ruling on a citation.

So then, in GPS vs Radar, unless the radar could be shown to definitely have been in calibration both before and after the incident and the officer could definitely show his location relative to the vehicle and the angle at which it was striking the target vehicle during the speed measurement, GPS data which showed differing results, while not definitive, would almost have to be considered by the judge as potential evidence that an error might have been made. And, more often than not (unless you have tons of previous tickets, etc), a lot of judges are going to throw it out just to avoid the hassle and to keep from wasting additional time on a simple traffic violation.

In a case that involves someone I know who was tagged for speeding -- and was speeding at the time (which was corroborated by another car pacing him, in addition to the radar). In that case, he was able to show that the radar WAS out of calibration by a significant amount but, as they had other proof, they were still going to fine him. However, this was in a smaller town and the tickets were primarily aimed at "revenue generation". As a result, he overhead one of the officers involved mentioning to the judge the very large number of tickets issued that day strictly on the basis of radar... after which the judge very rapidly changed his tone a bit and changed the ticket over to a warning -- without actually dismissing it or entering the radar calibration data he had brought into the record. You gotta love small towns.... :)
 
TDS
(Time/ Distance/ Speed)

All you need is two points and knowledge of the time it takes to go from point A to point B at the speed limit.
 
Run this through your brain:
40 kph = 24.8548477 mph

Possible user error behind that radar gun?
 
I've been waiting for a real reason to get a smartphone...

Now it's arrived!

:D
 
ReconSniper said:
As a traffic cop, I can tell you that this is total BS. I assure you I have seen probably 50 people try to use a GPS type device as evidence in a courtroom as a defense. The problem is, our patrol cars have certain requirements that must be met in order for a radar or car to be used in determining speed. Radar calibration, speedometer calibration, and training. Of course, Im in Florida and not Liberal California, but unless you have some certification paperwork showing your GPS is more accurate than my car/radar, you lose, every single time. However, the way to beat a speeding ticket every time is easy.... Dont speed.
Click to expand...

The more fun way to beat a speeding ticket every time is to jam your laser, like I do all day long.
 
ReconSniper said:
As a traffic cop, I can tell you that this is total BS. I assure you I have seen probably 50 people try to use a GPS type device as evidence in a courtroom as a defense. The problem is, our patrol cars have certain requirements that must be met in order for a radar or car to be used in determining speed. Radar calibration, speedometer calibration, and training. Of course, Im in Florida and not Liberal California, but unless you have some certification paperwork showing your GPS is more accurate than my car/radar, you lose, every single time. However, the way to beat a speeding ticket every time is easy.... Dont speed.
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Hey there friend, He WASN'T speeding. Cops can be WRONG you know and you guys are only human and therefore as imperfect as the rest of us.

As for GPS not being accurate well I can't agree with that since it was the only way to measure the actual speed of the Bugati Veyron when they were trying to measure it's top speed.

:cool:
 
jwalk6 said:
Hey there friend, He WASN'T speeding. Cops can be WRONG you know and you guys are only human and therefore as imperfect as the rest of us.

As for GPS not being accurate well I can't agree with that since it was the only way to measure the actual speed of the Bugati Veyron when they were trying to measure it's top speed.

:cool:
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RADAR or LIDAR would work just fine for the Veyron.
 
InorganicMatter said:
Actually I'm pretty sure this is the easiest way to beat a speeding ticket.
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Add on one of these and you're damn near invincible, as long as you're smart (don't be one of those idiots going 150 in a 45 zone - you can be visually cited if you're going fast enough).

But the V1 and LI will 100% put an end to all tickets in the +/- 15-20mph over range.
 
Still quite interesting to see that even with the US having "stricter" laws and law-enforcement have high-tech gadgets, they are just as effective (or rather, as ineffective) as "loose" laws and law-enforcement with no gadgets at all over here. LOLOLOL
 
from the article/comments

He didn't beat the ticket because of his smartphone.

"To avoid any misinterpretations about his ruling, [the judge] 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, "
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Anyone ever notice that the electronic signs that say "xxxxxx exit, 10 miles, 10 minutes" but the speed limit is 50 or 55? I wonder if you could argue in court about that?
 
Blakestr said:
Anyone ever notice that the electronic signs that say "xxxxxx exit, 10 miles, 10 minutes" but the speed limit is 50 or 55? I wonder if you could argue in court about that?
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Probably not. In Houston, those signs are based on real-time data collected via people who have toll tags. One time I saw travel time from 610 South to Nasa 1 listed as 8 minutes, which means whoevers' car was used as a data point was traveling about 120mph.

Yes, the city has unsuccessfully been trying for years to to automatically send people tickets if their travel time system picks up on that kind of speeds.
 
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