New use for a smart phone

Started by Dave W, February 27, 2011, 01:48:36 PM

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Pilgrim

"A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any other invention with the possible exceptions of handguns and tequila."

gweimer

Telling tales of drunkenness and cruelty

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

Quote from: Psycho Bass Guy on February 27, 2011, 08:27:13 PM
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.
Telling tales of drunkenness and cruelty

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.
We've taken too much for granted ... and all the time it had grown ...
From techno seeds we first planted ... evolved a mind of its own ...

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...
The random mind of a Silver Surfer...
If research was easy, it wouldn't need doing...
Staring at that event horizon is a dirty job, but someone has to do it; something's going to come back out of it one day...

Pilgrim

All true, but odds are very good that this is the first tip of the camel's nose moving under the tent.
"A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any other invention with the possible exceptions of handguns and tequila."

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.