Accused speeder to cops: My GPS proves your radar gun is wrong
A 17 year-old driver from Windsor, California is fighting his speeding ticket in an unusual manner. He is using the data recorded from the GPS unit his parents installed in his car to track his speed and location to prove his innocence, according to an AP Report. The boy, named Shaun Malone, is the stepson of retired deputy Roger Rude who insisted on the installation of the GPS device for his lead-footed son. The ex deputy who spent 31 years with law enforcement is also insisting that his son fight what he believes to be a bogus ticket.
“I’m not trying to get a guilty kid off,” Rude said. “I’ve always had faith in our justice system. I would like to see the truth prevail and I would like Shaun to see that the system works.”
Though traffic courts do not routinely accept GPS readouts as evidence of a vehicle’s speed – and many GPS receivers aren’t capable of keeping records anyway – some tech-savvy drivers around the world slowly are starting to use the technology to challenge moving violations, according to anecdotal accounts from California Defense Lawyers and law enforcement officials. This summer, for instance, an Australian farmer became a hero to speeders everywhere when he got a ticket dismissed after presenting police with data from his tracking device.
A Sonoma County traffic commissioner is expected to rule within the next two weeks whether to dismiss Shaun’s ticket based on Rude’s written argument that the motorcycle officer’s radar gun was either improperly calibrated or thrown off by another speeding car.
Rude’s contention is that GPS is a less fallible system then radar, a contention that Petaluma Lt. John Edwards disputes.
“GPS works on satellite signals, so you have a delay of some type,” Edwards said. “Is it a couple-second delay? A 30-second delay? Because in that time people can speed up, slow down.”
Whatever the circumstances behind your California moving violation, it is important to secure counsel whenever possible. Your chances of fighting and winning a battle in court for any kind of infraction, be it speeding, a California auto accident, or a Northern California personal injury claim, improve exponentially when you involve a legal expert.
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