New use for a smart phone

[Dave W]

How My Smart Phone Got Me Out Of A Speeding Ticket In Traffic Court

[Pilgrim]

Very well done!

[gweimer]

Yeah.  I'm impressed.

[Psycho Bass Guy]

It had nothing to do with the phone, which was disregarded as irrelavent. The officer admitted that he had not calibrated his radar gun and that equals aquittal.  The judge went out of his way to not set a precedent of accepting a phone application as evidence. The phone app may have lent emotionial creedence to the story of not speeding, but had the officer calibrated his radar gun, the ticket would have stood.

[gweimer]

It had nothing to do with the phone, which was disregarded as irrelavent. The officer admitted that he had not calibrated his radar gun and that equals aquittal.  The judge went out of his way to not set a precedent of accepting a phone application as evidence. The phone app may have lent emotionial creedence to the story of not speeding, but had the officer calibrated his radar gun, the ticket would have stood.

I take the viewpoint that the smart phone provided enough doubt on the reliability of the radar gun to sway the judge.  I've heard before that if you get tagged with a radar gun, the first thing to do is demand the calibration records, and also request that it be calibrated upon receiving the ticket.

[Dave W]

Yep. It was all about creating doubt, and the phone helped create doubt even though the judge didn't formally accept it as evidence.

[uwe]

If the gloves don't fit, you'll acquit.

[Highlander]

Most GPS uses the American satellite system - most vehicles have a 10% tollerance as part of their spec for the odometer - my van indicates +5MPH than the SATNAV display - my wife's car indicates +2MPH with the same system...

The same GPS system is used by the Military (pretty much all of them), the emergency forces (pretty much all of them), aviation, merchant navy, etc...

I trust the SATNAV more than the vehicle...

I also reckon the judge knew enough about setting precedent to avoid that thin-ice...

[Pilgrim]

All true, but odds are very good that this is the first tip of the camel's nose moving under the tent.

[Psycho Bass Guy]

Don't count on it. Governments have long used citation powers as a method of income. Especially in a down economy with greatly reduced tax revenue, they're looking for ways to keep their books in the black and the laws will either be rewritten or clarified by state attorney generals in a way to exclude this and other similar application data in the future. There are entire rural police departments in my area that exist solely to issue citations from through-traffic.

 If I seem a little bitter, it's because of all the citations I have ever received, not one was actually true. They were ALL bogus. I'm not saying that I don't exceed the posted speed limit at times. As a matter of fact, the one time I was pulled over for speeding that I actually was, the officer let me go with just a warning. It's also a poorly held "secret" that law enforcement often gets "creative" in their interpretations of events in order to meet their citation quotas. This very story is a prime example. How can an officer honestly mistake a car going 26 mph for one going 65 mph?

[Dave W]

At least red light cameras are unconstitutional in Minnesota.