Robo cop returns.

Submitted: Tuesday, Apr 14, 2015 at 19:18

ThreadID: 117484 Views:2689 Replies:5 FollowUps:6

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Slow one

Here is an interview with the Qld police commissioner about estimating vehicle speed. See what he says about what a court would say.

This original thread was about a truck being booked for speeding in NSW by a cop standing on the side of the road. Many bush lawyers had their say and proclaimed the cop was within his rights. He was within his rights to book the driver for operating a vehicle in a dangerous manner but he chose speeding.

Note, this is about a cop standing on the side of the road, not about a vehicle with an accurate speedo following him.

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Reply By: Bigfish - Tuesday, Apr 14, 2015 at 19:21

Reply By: Slow one - Tuesday, Apr 14, 2015 at 21:26

Reply By: Member - Michael P (QLD) - Tuesday, Apr 14, 2015 at 22:52

Reply By: Notso - Wednesday, Apr 15, 2015 at 10:14

Wednesday, Apr 15, 2015 at 10:14

Being a former member of this illustrious profession, we were able to present in court evidence that we had estimated the speed of a vehicle. At the same time we had to prove our credibility as a witness by showing how much experience we had, eg. how many years as a Police office, how many years driving experience etc.

Depending on the oppositions lawyer this could be quite a rigorous examination of our experience.

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Follow Up By: Member - PhilD_NT - Wednesday, Apr 15, 2015 at 21:55

Wednesday, Apr 15, 2015 at 21:55

Being a former victim of this illustrious profession in another State and in a very dubious stop watch estimation of speed I would attach very little relevance to a persons years in their job and driving experience as sole reasons to accept their ability to visually estimate speeds while standing by the road. Actual documented training and a high pass result in that exact position of standing by the side of a road with varying passing speeds would be relevant.

In my case the actual accusation's at the time and the actual Court charge of a minor speeding offence on a country highway (the only accusation that I was guilty of) were radically different. More telling were comments made at the time of stopping me that strongly suggested they only took off after me because they thought that they recognised the car type and colour as someone they knew from past incidents. It was someone who although I had never personally met them I did have some knowledge of their driving record because of small town scuttlebutt.

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Follow Up By: Member - PhilD_NT - Wednesday, Apr 15, 2015 at 22:10

Wednesday, Apr 15, 2015 at 22:10

Hmmm, partial putting foot in mouth and partial editing problem and cut a bit out.

Although the QLD Police Commissioner admitted that the "estimation by standing beside the road" was not supported by him or the Courts I believe that there is an error in using the word "Estimation" while referring to following a suspected speeding vehicle. That to me is a case of matching the supposedly speeding vehicle and reading off the speed, not estimating it, and I don't see a problem I that.

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Follow Up By: Notso - Thursday, Apr 16, 2015 at 07:35

Thursday, Apr 16, 2015 at 07:35

Ah well, we all have a horror story to tell, but at the end of the day every time I've been booked for speeding I was guilty and prepared to pay the fine. There are those among us who see it as their natural born right to A. Speed, and B. whinge about how they were victimised when they were caught.

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