TAKING CANDY FROM A BABY
The headline for this piece are actually the words of a policeman, who used them when demonstrating the ease at which motorists could be 'caught' speeding with an Lti 20.20 laser gun.
Speed kills. It's true. On being hit by a moving vehicle, the chances of survival drop significantly at speeds over 25 mph. Drivers involved in high speed accidents have a far greater risk of serious injury and death. So speed limits are there to keep us from driving recklessly. They help lower the risks.
However, the fact also remains that even the most conscientious driver will be travelling above the speed limit at some point on their journey, whether it is intentional or not. Speed limits change and if they are being ignored, the risk of getting a fine is a sure way to slow us down. Warnings are most effective when displayed along known hazardous sections of road. It's where speed cameras are a benefit to road users. They warn and remind us of our speed to avoid an accident. They shouldn't be used to bolster figures or generate revenue. This appears to be the case in the UK.
Unfortunately, the powers at be have always known that capturing motorists is an easy way to make money. The newest generations of mobile laser speed cameras used by the police, can be utilised from pretty much anywhere. They can capture a speeding vehicle from up to a 1000 metres away without the driver even being aware they have been caught speeding.
So accurate are these laser cameras purported to be, that many motorists will cough up a fine without contesting the equipment's accuracy. BUT, nothing is 100% accurate all of the time and these speed cameras are certainly no exception.
Lti 20-20
The laser equipment of choice, passed for use by the Home Office, is the Lti 20-20 Ultralyte 1000. This is the model used by Cornish police, registering a speed of 91mph along a 70mph stretch of road. This apparently occurred on the 2015 Easter bank holiday weekend.
I recall the police van at the side of the road. I also recall the speed wasn't 91mph. I knew there was a problem with the reading coming back from this equipment. I just had to prove it.
Evidence Is Key
Appealing and winning a court case has given me greater confidence dealing with the law. In regards to the speeding case itself, I've learned that even with the odds stacked against me, I've managed to influence a decision in my favour. It's because I looked at the evidence. The following statement rings true:
There will always be a way to succeed, so never give up.
The police will collate their case, including witness statements, proof of correspondence and photo/video evidence. This will be enough to convict a driver if they do not make a strong defence. It is your right to request all the police evidence. So when the speeding letter arrives, request to see the evidence immediately.
A very small percentage of speeding cases are contested in court. There are a multitude of reasons for this:
Time
Going to court will disrupt a day. It's an inconvenience. This could mean taking time off work, time spent travelling and likely lots of time waiting in an unpleasant environment.
Cost
Courts are mostly funded by public taxes but bringing a case to court will incur additional costs for those who are found 'guilty'. The costs for legal representation, the prosecution's time, and time for any witnesses or 'specialists' attending on the day, can all mount up. Loss of income, travel expenses and any time spent getting a case together, will also be a factor. Then there's the fine on top of all that to consider - which for many, is enough of a loss to incur in the first place and it's often the reason why most will take a guilty plea - even if they are not guilty!
Probability
The amount of cases brought to trial are very small. Based on the accuracy and government backed validation of the police using laser equipment, the chances of having a fair trial are already stacked against those making a defence. The statistics for speeding fines being paid before court are exceptionally high. It's unknown what percentage of those paying were wrongly convicted but even if it's 1 percent, there will be hundred's of thousands per year and of those unfairly punished, mere thousands will go to court and an even smaller percentage will actually have a strong enough case. This will give massive statistics in favour for successfully prosecuting 'speeding' motorists and further condone the effectiveness of using laser speed capturing equipment. Therefore, it's not in the interests of the manufacturer, the police, courts or the company running this extremely profitable enterprise - which is exactly what it is - to have any cases that could damage the equipment's reputation. So we don't actually get to see how many cases are dropped before going to trial. (This is something that would encourage more people to stand up and fight a false speeding conviction, but alas, this information is not in the public arena.)
Turn P.I. (Private investigator)
Once the full evidence, including DVD, has been presented to you, there will be a number of factors to question. Here's a few to consider:
- how old is the equipment?
- how many times has it been used?
- what were the checks made to ensure equipment was properly set up?
- how were the checks recorded?
- how much experience has the operator had?
- has the operator read the manual?
- has the operator kept up to date with any amendments to equipment and read the latest manual?
- has the operator seen any errors with the equipment?
- how many speeding motorists were captured that day?
- what was the activation speed set at?
- was the weather function turned on?
- was the laser tripod mounted?
The laser equipment is a precision instrument. It needs to be operated as such. ANY deviation away from the correct usage as indicated in the manual, will affect it's reading. There's many questions to ask about the equipment, it's usage and how the weather, environment, quality of the reading taken, can all affect the validity of the reading. These questions need to be answered by the police camera unit/manufacturer/prosecutor, in order to have a fair case.
Read the witness statements over and over and watch the video on a loop. The evidence will start to reveal some clues to where the questions can be directed. For example - I noted that the police recorded an overcast day on both of their statements. The photos and video clearly indicated that it was a very sunny day. With strong shadows under the car and sun-glare reflecting off the polished chrome parts of the car to clearly refute the fact that it was a sunny day and not overcast at all. The back of a transit van parked on the side of a motorway, must feel very dark and gloomy inside. Essentially though, if a so-called reliable witness can't even get the weather right, there's going to be other doubts about their judgement on other matters too. Looking at the video about 10 times in a row, I also started to notice that the lens/glass was very dirty. The video footage had loads of blurry specs all over it. This could indicate that the equipment was poorly looked after, in need of an overhaul or just getting old. Light gets reflected/refracted and effected by all kinds of things - especially highly reflective surfaces and dirt obscuring the lens on a bit of highly sensitive precision equipment.
Read the manual. I contacted the manufacture and requested the latest manual for this laser and recording equipment. In this manual, the user guidelines state very clearly, for an accurate reading, to focus on a flat reflective surface like a number plate. But, in my case, the speed reading was taken off the chrome plated multi faceted Mercedes badge. Again the user had ignored the operator guide and taken a reading from a surface that could potentially give off an erroneous reading. The reading was also taken at over 1000 feet away. That's over 3x football pitches away. Was the laser tested for a reading at that distance? Age/usage or any knock to the laser, can affect the accuracy. The beam widens at greater distances. Chances are, the calibration would have been made at far less than 100 meters, so any slight mis-alignment will be amplified over longer distances and if the proper accuracy tests weren't carried out, the laser could have easily picked up another car, or in this case, the central reservation which had obscured a third of the car from being in view. The vehicle needs to be away from other stationery and moving objects - ie. in clear view, in order to return an accurate reading - another major factor to affect accuracy in my particular case.
Ask lots of questions. It's your right to have a fair trial. The police will only have a limited amount of time and resources available on hand to deal with your enquiries. They may just drop the case if there's enough damning evidence in your defence and particularly if there's a strong chance your questioning will discredit the operator, the equipment and bring the legal system into question.
All in all, the time you spend investigating, learning the law and even putting together some well crafted emails and letters to the police camera unit, court, manufacturer, etc., are all going to give some insights into the law, how the equipment works and how to deal with the legal system. The threat of a fine and points may be daunting, but pushing on through will potentially surprise you with a positive outcome - as I was when the magistrates returned with an agreed not guilty decision. Magistrates are just regular folk like you and I. They will make a judgement call based on clear evidence. If the police evidence is not completely clear and the points raised in your defence are either not answered by the prosecution or there's any reason to doubt the responses given/evidence validity, they will have to carefully consider if the police evidence and the means used to collect it, have been enough to justify a guilty decision. Prosecution teams will weigh-up these factors before going to trial, so it's key to get the full video evidence and ask questions early on.
Be nice. Everyone involved - police, court clerks, magistrates, etc., - they will be playing out a role. They are just like you and I. It's simply a job. It's just paying the bills. They have social lives and families they'd rather be enjoying - they don't need angry people in their day! So, remember to be friendly, get people's names and try to keep the same helpful ones, to get what you need. Quite often, people will sympathise with a situation that they could see themselves in. Fellow motorists all potentially have the threat of a large fine to contend with at some point in their lives (especially with erroneous speed camera readings), so being nice may help get you all kinds of benefits to help your case.
An example in persistence. What follows, is the email I sent to the Crown Prosecution Services, to further persist in obtaining information for my court case. This email, coming at the end of a lot of previous communications, seems to have pushed the CPS over the edge. They likely realised there were too many factors questioning the accuracy of their evidence, and dropped the case. So, my advice here again - is to never give up!
Good afternoon.
To follow up from my email. Due to issues in receiving requested information, I'm conscious of time running out. So before I speak with my solicitor tomorrow, I have considered a few points which I would require the CPS to provide answers for. If these points could please be treated with some urgency, in order to allow enough time for me to discuss with my solicitor and to then prepare my representations before the case date.
Some of the enquiries are general legal enquiries, which CPS may easily be able to provide answers for. Some queries are directly related to speed capture and methods used to check accuracy. Other questions are related to the equipment and the persons responsible for ensuring the correct procedures are adhered to for obtaining accurate speed readings.
While I appreciate there are a few questions here and likely, some could possibly be answered by my own legal representatives, I have already made it clear that I am only recently back in work after a considerable time off for personal reasons and costs for making legal representations are potentially running very high in addition to costs implications for my time off work, travel expenses etc. So, I really appreciate your assistance in acquiring the following information.
I will break the questions down into categories. I believe they are all straight forward and possible to obtain in a timely fashion. Once again, I appreciate your cooperation in obtaining this vital information for which will ensure I have a fair trial.
{I then included a series of questions regarding any factors to consider, which could have caused an error to occur.}
Equipment
- Were there any known issues or error messages flagged up with the equipment on the morning of the 7th?
- How many times had the camera been activated before 12.47 that day?
- How old is the laser equipment?
- Is there a log of laser's usage indicating calibrations, updated software, accuracy checks and any known issues or repairs previously?
- What is the exact model number?
- What system software was capture system running at the time?
- When was the software last updated?
- Has the camera shown any negative readings or errors in last 6 months?
- Have there been many other motorists appealing against the speed readings taken from this same device and operator?
Operator
- How much experience has this laser unit's operator had working with this particular equipment?
- When did the camera activate?
- Was activation automatic or was an operator action required?
- ie. Is the laser equipment activated with a trigger?
- And if so, is the reading taken from the moment the operator pulls the trigger or is trigger held in for a time and therefore does the laser only trigger when it receives an excessive speed reading for the duration trigger is held in?
- What speed limit is unit set at for activation?
- Are there standard guidelines for use on this model of laser?
- Has the operator read the latest set of guidelines?
- Can I get a copy of the same guidelines?
- What does the 'F L' indicator mean?
- For these lasers, do they show a red dot as target?
- Are there also indicators showing the moment when the laser is activated and for duration of activation?
- Are there any known factors that can effect unit's accuracy readings, give out errors or stop unit from working correctly? Examples below:
Lighting
- Flat light
- Low light
- Bright light
- Heat haze
Weather & Environmental's
- Rain
- Snow
- Cold temperatures
- Overheating
Camera Operation
- Are there factors that can affect the unit's readings and accuracy?
For example, long distance readings where it is difficult to keep the laser from moving.
Operator Hand Movement:
- Direction of movement
- Unit unsteady while taking a reading
Target Area
- Proximity to other objects, either moving/stationery
- Vehicle angle/direction
Vehicle Surface
- Angled surfaces
- Multi-faceted surfaces
Reflective Qualities
- Sun flare/glare
- Metallic paint
- Chrome plating
Additional Questions To Consider
- Have there been any other court cases known about with the CPS (accessible in the public arena) where this type of equipment has been shown to be inaccurate or give false readings?
- The video and photo evidence clearly shows a warm and sunny day. People in the car are wearing sun glasses, and the roof is down - not overcast at all - so the overcast reference in both statements is surely questionable?
- If I am successful in the case, can I claim the full costs back for my travel, accommodation, and expenses? Will I also be able to claim back the solicitor's fees plus their travel/accommodation and any expenses incurred?
- If the case goes the other way, will I be able to appeal and have the second trial heard here in London?
{Note that I include the last two points about money and my request for a retrial 'if the case goes the other way' - I never mention the word 'guilty'. This clearly indicates that I will not be caving in and could potentially highlight the many problems with law enforcement equipment at a later trial. This equipment has already had a great deal of negative publicity through the media before as the following video highlights}
- how much experience has the operator had?
- has the operator read the manual?
- has the operator kept up to date with any amendments to equipment and read the latest manual?
- has the operator seen any errors with the equipment?
- how many speeding motorists were captured that day?
- what was the activation speed set at?
- was the weather function turned on?
- was the laser tripod mounted?
The laser equipment is a precision instrument. It needs to be operated as such. ANY deviation away from the correct usage as indicated in the manual, will affect it's reading. There's many questions to ask about the equipment, it's usage and how the weather, environment, quality of the reading taken, can all affect the validity of the reading. These questions need to be answered by the police camera unit/manufacturer/prosecutor, in order to have a fair case.
Read the witness statements over and over and watch the video on a loop. The evidence will start to reveal some clues to where the questions can be directed. For example - I noted that the police recorded an overcast day on both of their statements. The photos and video clearly indicated that it was a very sunny day. With strong shadows under the car and sun-glare reflecting off the polished chrome parts of the car to clearly refute the fact that it was a sunny day and not overcast at all. The back of a transit van parked on the side of a motorway, must feel very dark and gloomy inside. Essentially though, if a so-called reliable witness can't even get the weather right, there's going to be other doubts about their judgement on other matters too. Looking at the video about 10 times in a row, I also started to notice that the lens/glass was very dirty. The video footage had loads of blurry specs all over it. This could indicate that the equipment was poorly looked after, in need of an overhaul or just getting old. Light gets reflected/refracted and effected by all kinds of things - especially highly reflective surfaces and dirt obscuring the lens on a bit of highly sensitive precision equipment.
Read the manual. I contacted the manufacture and requested the latest manual for this laser and recording equipment. In this manual, the user guidelines state very clearly, for an accurate reading, to focus on a flat reflective surface like a number plate. But, in my case, the speed reading was taken off the chrome plated multi faceted Mercedes badge. Again the user had ignored the operator guide and taken a reading from a surface that could potentially give off an erroneous reading. The reading was also taken at over 1000 feet away. That's over 3x football pitches away. Was the laser tested for a reading at that distance? Age/usage or any knock to the laser, can affect the accuracy. The beam widens at greater distances. Chances are, the calibration would have been made at far less than 100 meters, so any slight mis-alignment will be amplified over longer distances and if the proper accuracy tests weren't carried out, the laser could have easily picked up another car, or in this case, the central reservation which had obscured a third of the car from being in view. The vehicle needs to be away from other stationery and moving objects - ie. in clear view, in order to return an accurate reading - another major factor to affect accuracy in my particular case.
Ask lots of questions. It's your right to have a fair trial. The police will only have a limited amount of time and resources available on hand to deal with your enquiries. They may just drop the case if there's enough damning evidence in your defence and particularly if there's a strong chance your questioning will discredit the operator, the equipment and bring the legal system into question.
All in all, the time you spend investigating, learning the law and even putting together some well crafted emails and letters to the police camera unit, court, manufacturer, etc., are all going to give some insights into the law, how the equipment works and how to deal with the legal system. The threat of a fine and points may be daunting, but pushing on through will potentially surprise you with a positive outcome - as I was when the magistrates returned with an agreed not guilty decision. Magistrates are just regular folk like you and I. They will make a judgement call based on clear evidence. If the police evidence is not completely clear and the points raised in your defence are either not answered by the prosecution or there's any reason to doubt the responses given/evidence validity, they will have to carefully consider if the police evidence and the means used to collect it, have been enough to justify a guilty decision. Prosecution teams will weigh-up these factors before going to trial, so it's key to get the full video evidence and ask questions early on.
Be nice. Everyone involved - police, court clerks, magistrates, etc., - they will be playing out a role. They are just like you and I. It's simply a job. It's just paying the bills. They have social lives and families they'd rather be enjoying - they don't need angry people in their day! So, remember to be friendly, get people's names and try to keep the same helpful ones, to get what you need. Quite often, people will sympathise with a situation that they could see themselves in. Fellow motorists all potentially have the threat of a large fine to contend with at some point in their lives (especially with erroneous speed camera readings), so being nice may help get you all kinds of benefits to help your case.
An example in persistence. What follows, is the email I sent to the Crown Prosecution Services, to further persist in obtaining information for my court case. This email, coming at the end of a lot of previous communications, seems to have pushed the CPS over the edge. They likely realised there were too many factors questioning the accuracy of their evidence, and dropped the case. So, my advice here again - is to never give up!
Good afternoon.
To follow up from my email. Due to issues in receiving requested information, I'm conscious of time running out. So before I speak with my solicitor tomorrow, I have considered a few points which I would require the CPS to provide answers for. If these points could please be treated with some urgency, in order to allow enough time for me to discuss with my solicitor and to then prepare my representations before the case date.
Some of the enquiries are general legal enquiries, which CPS may easily be able to provide answers for. Some queries are directly related to speed capture and methods used to check accuracy. Other questions are related to the equipment and the persons responsible for ensuring the correct procedures are adhered to for obtaining accurate speed readings.
While I appreciate there are a few questions here and likely, some could possibly be answered by my own legal representatives, I have already made it clear that I am only recently back in work after a considerable time off for personal reasons and costs for making legal representations are potentially running very high in addition to costs implications for my time off work, travel expenses etc. So, I really appreciate your assistance in acquiring the following information.
I will break the questions down into categories. I believe they are all straight forward and possible to obtain in a timely fashion. Once again, I appreciate your cooperation in obtaining this vital information for which will ensure I have a fair trial.
{I then included a series of questions regarding any factors to consider, which could have caused an error to occur.}
- Were there any known issues or error messages flagged up with the equipment on the morning of the 7th?
- How many times had the camera been activated before 12.47 that day?
- How old is the laser equipment?
- Is there a log of laser's usage indicating calibrations, updated software, accuracy checks and any known issues or repairs previously?
- What is the exact model number?
- What system software was capture system running at the time?
- When was the software last updated?
- Has the camera shown any negative readings or errors in last 6 months?
- Have there been many other motorists appealing against the speed readings taken from this same device and operator?
Operator
- How much experience has this laser unit's operator had working with this particular equipment?
- When did the camera activate?
- Was activation automatic or was an operator action required?
- ie. Is the laser equipment activated with a trigger?
- And if so, is the reading taken from the moment the operator pulls the trigger or is trigger held in for a time and therefore does the laser only trigger when it receives an excessive speed reading for the duration trigger is held in?
- What speed limit is unit set at for activation?
- Are there standard guidelines for use on this model of laser?
- Has the operator read the latest set of guidelines?
- Can I get a copy of the same guidelines?
- What does the 'F L' indicator mean?
- For these lasers, do they show a red dot as target?
- Are there also indicators showing the moment when the laser is activated and for duration of activation?
- Are there any known factors that can effect unit's accuracy readings, give out errors or stop unit from working correctly? Examples below:
Lighting
- Flat light
- Low light
- Bright light
- Heat haze
Weather & Environmental's
- Rain
- Snow
- Cold temperatures
- Overheating
Camera Operation
- Are there factors that can affect the unit's readings and accuracy?
For example, long distance readings where it is difficult to keep the laser from moving.
Operator Hand Movement:
- Direction of movement
- Unit unsteady while taking a reading
Target Area
- Proximity to other objects, either moving/stationery
- Vehicle angle/direction
Vehicle Surface
- Angled surfaces
- Multi-faceted surfaces
Reflective Qualities
- Sun flare/glare
- Metallic paint
- Chrome plating
Additional Questions To Consider
- Have there been any other court cases known about with the CPS (accessible in the public arena) where this type of equipment has been shown to be inaccurate or give false readings?
- The video and photo evidence clearly shows a warm and sunny day. People in the car are wearing sun glasses, and the roof is down - not overcast at all - so the overcast reference in both statements is surely questionable?
- If I am successful in the case, can I claim the full costs back for my travel, accommodation, and expenses? Will I also be able to claim back the solicitor's fees plus their travel/accommodation and any expenses incurred?
- If the case goes the other way, will I be able to appeal and have the second trial heard here in London?
{Note that I include the last two points about money and my request for a retrial 'if the case goes the other way' - I never mention the word 'guilty'. This clearly indicates that I will not be caving in and could potentially highlight the many problems with law enforcement equipment at a later trial. This equipment has already had a great deal of negative publicity through the media before as the following video highlights}
Conclusion
You can see from all the work I've invested above, that there's a lot of unanswered questions. It's our rights to have a fair and just trial and a lot of the above questions will need to be answered in order to bring about a fair outcome. Taxing the system with all these questions, will likely be too much and in this instance, the prosecution chose to throw the case out of court. Not only was I successful with my defence, but I was fully reimbursed for all my expenses.
