Speeding

The police can use a variety of over 40 types of speed measuring devices to measure the speed of the motorist for the purpose of prosecution. The main categories of devices used are:

1. Speed cameras (GATSOMETERS)
2. Peek cameras. A smaller version of the GATSOMETERS.
3. Hand held laser and radar guns.
4. The VASCAR (Visual Average Speed Computer And Recorder) device. Used by police officers to calculate the average speed of a vehicle over a set distance.
5. The SPECS system. The use of a series of cameras over a set route which utilise automatic number plate recognition to calculate a vehicle's average speed.
6. Truvelo. An increasingly common form of speed camera device which relies upon road sensors to detect a car's speed.

All of the machines used in modern day speed detection must be properly calibrated and used only by officers specifically trained in their operation. There are also strict rules governing when, where and how the machines should be used.

If the stringent operating requirements have not been met the Prosecution may be unable to prove a speeding offence. Our most high profile case to date involving a speed measuring device was the Crown Court Appeal of Mr Brian Wiltshire in January 2007. Please click on this link for more details about his case and why the judge allowed the appeal. Press Story on the case.

Vast numbers of speeding convictions are now being brought and the majority of offences are dealt with under the fixed penalty scheme. This means that motorists increasingly accept a speeding conviction without going to Court and without ever seeing the evidence against them.

Mistakes made by the police may often go unnoticed.

Police officers are rarely asked to give evidence in cases when a speeding prosecution is brought. Therefore, they are rarely asked to demonstrate that they have operated a speed detection device properly. The officer in Mr Wiltshire’s case was extreme experienced but when he gave evidence it was clear he had no understanding of the purpose of the various checks he was supposed to perform on the laser device he used to measure Mr Wiltshire’s speed. We dread to think how many motorists have been wrongly convicted for offences for this reason alone.

The word of one person will not suffice

In some cases a speeding prosecution based is upon the opinion of an eye-witnesses that a vehicle was speeding. Where the opinion of a witness is the only evidence and no speed recording device was used, there must be at least two witnesses who say that the vehicle was speeding. This applies, even if the witness is a police officer.*

"A person prosecuted for a [speeding] offence shall not be liable to be convicted on the evidence of one witness to the effect that, in the opinion of the witness, the person prosecuted was driving the vehicle at a speed exceeding a specified limit"

Section 89(2) Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984

* exceptions may apply

Punishment

Any speeding offence is punishable by way of a fine of up to £1,000, discretionary disqualification or between 3 – 6 penalty points.

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