Wolfie
Is a lunp
SPEED CAMERA EVIDENCE IN DOUBT, WARNS SAFE SPEED
We are hearing of dropped court cases all around the country concerning laser speed cameras in mobile vans. The
cases are being dropped when defendants exercise their legal rights by demanding to see the "traffic video", 7 days
before a court hearing.
Paul Smith, founder of the Safe Speed campaign said: "The rumours are that some of these traffic videos prove that the
equipment does not always record speeds correctly. We don't know of any other explanation for these mysterious
failures of the CPS to provide traffic videos when formally requested."
UK law, drafted in the interests of a fair trail, provides an opportunity for both sides to examine the evidence prior to trial
in a process known as "disclosure". Defendants are entitled to disclosure of evidence no later than 7 days before the
trial. Any evidence not so disclosed must should be excluded from consideration by the court. If a traffic video is not
disclosed, then it cannot be admitted as evidence and no corroborative evidence of the speed of the vehicle would be
available to the court.
Paul continues: "We strongly recommend that no one submits to a trial in one of these cases without proper advanced
disclosure of the video evidence.A short clip is not enough, the entire video comprises one "document" and defendants
are entitled to disclosure of the whole document."
These doubts about the legal evidence in speeding cases are centred around the "LTI 20/20" laser speed meter. Most, if
not all, mobile speed traps in the UK use this particular equipment. In a typical application the laser speed meter is linked
to video recording apparatus that records continuous video from a speed trapping session. The vehicles and their
number plates are recorded on the video, and the speed readings from the laser speed meter are superimposed on the
pictures. This means that the video is the main evidence of the speeding offence.
The LTI 20/20 has been criticized for spurious readings in other countries according to reports.
http://www.safespeed.org.uk
We are hearing of dropped court cases all around the country concerning laser speed cameras in mobile vans. The
cases are being dropped when defendants exercise their legal rights by demanding to see the "traffic video", 7 days
before a court hearing.
Paul Smith, founder of the Safe Speed campaign said: "The rumours are that some of these traffic videos prove that the
equipment does not always record speeds correctly. We don't know of any other explanation for these mysterious
failures of the CPS to provide traffic videos when formally requested."
UK law, drafted in the interests of a fair trail, provides an opportunity for both sides to examine the evidence prior to trial
in a process known as "disclosure". Defendants are entitled to disclosure of evidence no later than 7 days before the
trial. Any evidence not so disclosed must should be excluded from consideration by the court. If a traffic video is not
disclosed, then it cannot be admitted as evidence and no corroborative evidence of the speed of the vehicle would be
available to the court.
Paul continues: "We strongly recommend that no one submits to a trial in one of these cases without proper advanced
disclosure of the video evidence.A short clip is not enough, the entire video comprises one "document" and defendants
are entitled to disclosure of the whole document."
These doubts about the legal evidence in speeding cases are centred around the "LTI 20/20" laser speed meter. Most, if
not all, mobile speed traps in the UK use this particular equipment. In a typical application the laser speed meter is linked
to video recording apparatus that records continuous video from a speed trapping session. The vehicles and their
number plates are recorded on the video, and the speed readings from the laser speed meter are superimposed on the
pictures. This means that the video is the main evidence of the speeding offence.
The LTI 20/20 has been criticized for spurious readings in other countries according to reports.
http://www.safespeed.org.uk