radar detector

[scumdog]

Yo, even if the cop showed you all the documentation you thought he had to would you understand it/know if it was kosher?
The world is full of "back street lawyers" who know sod-all, take it from me that once you get pulled up your ass is toast unless the cop is nice to you OR your the luckiest guy in the world.

[wkid_one]

Rubbish - I got off due to ticketing errors - refer my previous thread.

[marty]

Originally posted by wkid_one


PS - if the cop is speeding - they can still ticket you - all it means is the cops 'reason for speeding' is investigated.  His easy argument - keeping up with you to chase you down.

fine if they're following - a bit tough to explain if they are coming towards you, or you're approaching them from behind

(bad jokes here.......................)

and if it's raining/drizzle - ALWAYS defend. stalkers etc are notoriously unreliable in the rain, and lasers are NOT able to be used with high (eg fog/rain) atmospheric moisture content

[What?]

Originally posted by scumdog
The world is full of "back street lawyers" 

Umm, yes. You are right, and so (largely, it seems) is KK

The view on the cops having to produce the radio license on demand came from a legal practioner who was advising a certain NZ motoring organisation. It seems his published opinion was wrong... I spent a bit of time last night reading relevant legislation and could find no reference at all.

As for production of proof of accuracy, they do have to provide it, but the law is very unclear as to when they must provide it, At court is obviously the latest opportunity they have. It was recommended in the past by certain boss cops that the proof be presented on demand, but it was not policy everywhere, and most likely isn't anywhere these days.

And a scary bit (I think I've posted this before), radar is accurate because the Land Transport Act says it is. It is not accurate for any scientific reason.

[Coldkiwi]

dunno how far that goes What. I know they have a set scientific unit for calibration ( italked to them when researching the exhaust laws earlier this year)so somewhere there must be criteria that the calibration unit is checking for.

[marty]

the police must disclose the radar calibration certificate if you ask for disclosure prior to a court hearing. (same for a photo and all its calibration certs) it will not be carried in the car, but the daily log book should be, and should be filled out. it is worth noting that a machine (including a speedo) does not have to be calibrated at the time of the ticket, but can be done in retrospect at the first opportunity. the police though i think would be reluctant to proceed on that basis, and if you ask to see the log book on the road side, and are refused, then it would provide a reasonable arguement that the daily calibration had not been done. i would say the highway boys are pretty good on that, but the strategic traffic (round town) and general cops may not be as diligent at filling out the log books.
you cannot call the certification of the unit into question, but you can call the calibrating officer to give evidence (not at your cost - the police are proving it, although you may be hit with costs if convicted - try $1000 to bring the person from wellington!)

[Lou Girardin]

Don't confuse radar and laser jammers, they're very different beasts. They Rocky Mountain crap has been proved to be just that. Laser jammers are active, they transmit a wide angle pulsed beam of infra red light. If the cops thought thay could get home in court on the charge mentioned, they would have tried it by now. There are thousands of laser jammers in use in NZ.
POP3, otherwise known as short burst radar are technically unable to support a conviction. See the Valentine website for a technical explanation and a graph of speed inaccuracies that these units produce.
Lou

[What?]

You are right, CK, but it is not the calibration accuracy I was referring to, but rather a Uni of Sydney study which concluded that radar speed detection devices are far from infallible. They apparently tend to be fairly accurate on cars, but the more the vehicle size varies from average, the more likely there will be error. This means possible bad news for Bikers and Truckies.

There was a brief write-up on the study in Two Wheels magazine. Sorry, I can not remeber when, exactly, but would guess around 5 years ago.

[scumdog]

Regarding the cops speed on the radar read-out, the cop does not have to show you his speed,- in fact he has a button on his controls that can delete the patrol car speed if he wants to, face it shag, you got to be lucky to ride off without a ticket if the man pulls you up for speeding, - and if you defend it you have to go to the court nearest to the scene - and if you lose there is a $130 court cost.

[What?]

So true, Scumdog. But just imagine what would happen to our already overloaded court system if everybody who got a speeding ticket decided to go to court to defend the charge...

'course, the only defense line would be "the cop is lying because it is in the interests of his performance review to do so". Now imagine the courts getting 3000 of that line every day...

Oh well, dreams are free...

[wkid_one]

What's stopping it from happening?

There is a conflict of interest now in the police force as a result of the performance measurements.......

[Marmoot]

What WHAT said was right.

But, hey, w_kid, we all have the same thoughts but somehow there is something stopping us from doing it.
Maybe, it's the indifference attitude in ourselves?

Interesting how apathetic the society has become to

[wkid_one]

BTW MAr - any further update on the accident and the pursuit of new wheels?

[Marmoot]

Still haven't got time to bring the wrecks in to plastic welder....too busy working overtimes to get the dosh.

(Oh, and the guts....considering this is the SECOND crash in the SAME year........feels like burying my head in my a$$....not that I've ever tried it, tho)