Eighteen year-old Shaun Malone got pinched for 62 mph in a 45 mph zone last summer but decided to fight the case because data from the GPS tracking device his parents installed in his car showed that he was actually going 45 mph at the time. He lost the case, a trial-by-affidavit, when a GPS expert claimed the data could not have been accurate. His parents then decided to appeal. During the appeal, the GPS expert was called to testify and essentially backtracked on his earlier testimony by saying the Malone’s GPS data was in fact accurate to within a couple of meters and 1 mph.
The final ruling is expected in October and if Malone wins it could set a precedent for GPS as reliable evidence in speeding cases.
Source: arstechnica
Photo: RMTracking
not to be paranoid, but arent situations like this just gonna lead to onboard mounted GPS speed controllers (like the nissan gt in japan) to become more widespread?
I got stopped for speeding not so long ago, and I was going quite a bit faster than the Cop’s radar unit showed. He was a nice Cop and after a chat let me go, but it makes you wonder how accurate these devices are.
It’s tough to say, but the trip screen on my fiancee’s Garmin shows a top speed of 126 mpg. Even if her Maxima could do that, she wouldn’t.
Anything to catch the cops in a lie is a good thing - someone needs to enforce the law upon law.
I work in GPS vehicle tracking and have done for several years. We have a few customers who have used the GPS data to prove they weren’t speeding. You do get the occasional position jump where you’ll get a very high speed recorded, but they are easy to spot.
When I got a fine in the post a couple of years ago for 86mph in a 70 I pulled up the data for my vehicle thinking I hadn’t been going that fast, and sure enough was doing exactly 86mph at the time…. fair enough!