The whole of our legal system is based on the fact that it is easier for most people to accept the penalty than challenge it. Last year my wifes ex-boss was caught by a gatso doing 47mph in a 30 limit and he was also using his phone. He was already on 9 points, but he 'got away with it' because he was rich enough to employ a solicitor.

In the UK we have plenty of law, but very little Justice.

Those who read about speedcameras may remember a website called notsoaccurrate where a chap devised a device that measured the timing of the flashes on the speedcamera to check they were operating within Home Office guidelines and therefore within the law.

David Edgar proved that the tests he conducted showed the Gatsos to be inaccurate and operating outside guidelines.

He was also an expert witness on a number of cases where councils tarmaced over lines to hide evidence etc.

Unfortunately this doesn't suprise me

The device and inaccuracy he identified:
http://www.safespeed.org.uk/notso.html

What happened to him...
http://www.properpolicing.org.uk/articles/David%20Edgar%20arrested!.pdf

Micky

I think they were police, but the whole situation is very suspect - if 80% of speed cameras are inaccurate there would have been an absolute outrage.

I leave you to draw your own conclusions. I cannot find what happened to David Edgar I think he was being kept at her majesty's pleasure in the article I read, unfortunately I cannot find it.

I exchanged some emails with him then all went quiet...

Micky

At the end of that pdf it reads "We believe that, sadly, David Edgar is
deceased and this event may well have contributed to his eventual death."[/i]

Dom (Dr jolly)
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What a shame. That would explain why I drew a blank. Unless someone else puts together a laser aligned, optically triggered digital timer that is capable of measuring the time lapse between the two flashes which are produced by a Gatsometer speed camera to within 1/100th of a second we'll never know.

His website can still be viewed on www.notsoaccurate.com by viewing the archive, just type the URL into the wayback archive viewing tool found here: http://www.archive.org/

Micky

Direct link to it is here

The notsoaccurate domain name has expired and could become anything in the future!

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Seems to me the judge needs a kick up the backside. ALL speed measuring devices have to be licensed by the Home Office and the license lays down how they should be used. In the case of GATSO units they MUST be on a straight stretch of road of at least 400 metres as they can react to reflections from vehicles travelling in the opposite direction.

In Hertfordshire the Police do not defend cases where this issue is raised on prosecutions using evidence from cameras on the A1057 between Hatfield and St Albans. A friends neighbour used to maintain the cameras and I got this snippett from him - it's not heresay.

To put it simply, if the camera is not installed in accordance with the license conditions then any evidence obtained from it is inadmissable! This was the case with the microwave cameras installed on the M25 some years back as they were only licensed for single installations - not multiple units as used in the vaiable speed zone.

Just as an aside. if a mobile speed unit is parked on the pavement then unless the officer operating the device has a pavement closure order he is obtaining evidence illegally and that's inadmissible as well!

If you want chapter and verse on all things speed camera then go to http://www.acpo.police.uk and click on policies - my spies teel me the document is being reviewed at the monent, but it'll be back there soon - so keep watching

Lines have been repainted on the road at a angle to before, (interesting)