GPS owner wins case against police

[+PopUpPirate]

A scientist escaped a charge of speeding at 42mph, after claiming a device he invented showed him travelling 12mph slower.

 

Sunderland University lecturer Phillip Tann, 45, was told mobile speed officers recorded him speeding in a 30mph zone in the city last November.

 

But Dr Tann, from South Shields, had data from a satellite tracking device, showing him travelling at 29.18mph.

 

The Crown Prosecution Service confirmed proceedings against Dr Tann had ceased.

 

 

OK granted it wasn't a Garmin GPS60 he had on his passenger seat but maybe it might have still been sufficient!

 

Full article here :

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wear/7033353.stm

[+Lotho]

Interesting..and well done to him

[+Cardinal Red]

I thought it was interesting that their explanation for dropping this is because the camera operator had retired and was not available to testify. No acknowledgment that he had evidence their system was wrong.

[+jerryo]

I thought it was interesting that their explanation for dropping this is because the camera operator had retired and was not available to testify. No acknowledgment that he had evidence their system was wrong.

And not a very good explanation either: the police often call back retired officers to give evidence. They didn't mention retired on health grounds, which they would have taken advantage of.

[+Stuey]

I got flashed one night in Sussex last year. When the letter came through it said that I was doing 47mph in a 40 zone. When I checked my Memory-Map tracklog, it showed that was travelling at 47mph at the time..... Consider that one calibrated correctly, hehe.

[+Vodor and Scorsby]

I got flashed one night in Sussex last year.

 

I have heard there are alot of flashers in Sussex

[+fastforty]

I had considered the triplog feature in that same way. On a long trip (or any trip for that matter) it shows maximum speed traveled. If it's been logging your travel for the last few hours & shows a max of 65mph it'd be tough for LEO to ticket you for 75mph. I doubt it would ever be useful because a) Highway Patrol radar is *rarely* wrong (if ever), and you'd have to be able to convince the roadside officer that the gizmo was legit. I suppose a pic of the gizmo w/readout next to the ticket might give you 1/2 of a leg to stand on in court, but you still couldn't prove that you didn't alter the time/date stamp, take a lawful trip & snap the pic then.

[Edgemaster]

A personal GPS device probably wouldn't be permissible in court - the timestamps on the track can easily be changed to fake the speed.

[+ibycus]

A personal GPS device probably wouldn't be permissible in court - the timestamps on the track can easily be changed to fake the speed.

 

The ones on board the GPS are actually kinda tough to modify (given that time is pulled from the satellites, and that when you upload a track, at least to a garmin GPS, you don't have the option to upload time information)

[nobby.nobbs]

Don't forget that if it loses lock for a couple of mins then reestablishes lock it will show your maximum speed to be several hundred miles an hour. Try explaining that to the officer!!

[alistair_uk]

I told off a Police man this morning for blocking the bus lane while giving someone a ticket for driving in the bus lane. What he did not realise that he was single-handedly causing delays half a mile away. Bless him, but he was being a bit of a twit.

[+sTeamTraen]

I told off a Police man this morning for blocking the bus lane while giving someone a ticket for driving in the bus lane. What he did not realise that he was single-handedly causing delays half a mile away. Bless him, but he was being a bit of a twit.

 

I presume he thanked you and sent you on your way with a cheery farewell? I'd be expecting something involving orange jumpsuits, rubber gloves, and unmarked aircraft...

[+Primitive Person]

Don't forget that if it loses lock for a couple of mins then reestablishes lock it will show your maximum speed to be several hundred miles an hour. Try explaining that to the officer!!

 

The best I managed to acheive with this was on a train journey, when I went into a long tunnel. It made the maximum speed on my Geko 201 jump from 90-ish mph to 1785mph in one go!

 

It made even Concorde look a bit rubbish.

 

Lee

[Deego]

1785mph!!! I can top trump that with 5175822mph while walking to a cache in Wales

B)

[+Team Sieni]

I once leapt from deepest Kent to Belgium and back in a matter of seconds. I don't recall what was on my speedo as I was whizzing over the channel.

[+bargee]

I managed last year on a trip to Berlin by train from Runcorn to get a signal whilst on the Thalys train between Brussels and Liege-Guillimons. watching the speed climb from 85mph to eventually top out at 184mph was superb!!!

 

tried again later on the DB ICE train but only managed a paltry 160mph

 

beats driving anyday

[+keehotee]

"My system can track a GPS phone within half-a-metre of where it is, whereas devices currently on the market can, at best, only track a phone within five metres."

 

I'm surprised nobody else has commented on this bit yet....how has he managed to get his alleged accuracy down to 0.5 metres using a single receiver and, presumably, civillian signals? Or is it just a "best guess" accuracy?

[+dino-irl]

Probably uses telephone masts and the phone signal to triangulate the location as well as the GPS facility?

 

(TBH I'm just talking through my a**e though as I'm guessing!)

[+keehotee]

Probably uses telephone masts and the phone signal to triangulate the location as well as the GPS facility?

I thought that as well - but given how unreliable, patchy, and subject to bounce the phone network is for voice data, how much credence would it add to his position?

I'm guessing that his device gives 0.5m accuracy under ideal conditions (ie line of site to 2 or more masts, and clear signal overhead) and the rest of the time drops back to regular civvy GPS........?

[+Vodor and Scorsby]

Probably uses telephone masts and the phone signal to triangulate the location as well as the GPS facility?

I thought that as well - but given how unreliable, patchy, and subject to bounce the phone network is for voice data, how much credence would it add to his position?

I'm guessing that his device gives 0.5m accuracy under ideal conditions (ie line of site to 2 or more masts, and clear signal overhead) and the rest of the time drops back to regular civvy GPS........?

 

It hink the fact that the officer didnt turn up was more to do with it than him actually having the device.

 

I just wish there was a device out there that could predict the weather as accurately

[+rutson]

I managed last year on a trip to Berlin by train from Runcorn to get a signal whilst on the Thalys train between Brussels and Liege-Guillimons. watching the speed climb from 85mph to eventually top out at 184mph was superb!!!

 

tried again later on the DB ICE train but only managed a paltry 160mph

 

beats driving anyday

 

184mph? Bit slow init? I recorded 258mph on this ;-)

[+keehotee]

Well I managed 23,250,000 miles per second in one of these

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OK - no I didn't.

[+Alibags]

... I doubt it would ever be useful because a) Highway Patrol radar is *rarely* wrong (if ever), ...

 

oh yeah?

[+Vodor and Scorsby]

... I doubt it would ever be useful because a) Highway Patrol radar is *rarely* wrong (if ever), ...

 

oh yeah?

 

I only just noticed that part of that post......There was a massive uproar down this way a while back because they found out from the manafacturer of the guns in the US that if you move a small amount while taking the reading it can glance down the side of the vehicle and increase the speed incredibly. The police wouldnt allow them a gun to check to see if it was true. so they (The BBC) bought one direct from the US Manafacturer and tested it on a test track, They managed to get a van that was doing 30 mph to read as it was doing 49. The amount you needed to move the gun was a fraction of a mm!!!! The police response to this info was to say that anyone noting the findings of the BBC as a defence would be prosecuted and that their speedguns are uploaded with new software in this country to make them more accurate. LMAO! Then they mysteriously suspended their use some time later. Sorry but if I was caught by a radar gun I would fight it because more than likely you would win.

[cleo43]

I use my TomTom to go to/from work every day, even though I know the route better than the palm of my hand.

This morning it surely saved me one expensive ticket, because as I turn into my office parking lot I saw flashing light. When I got out of the car, a second car got caught ! Whew !