Using GPS to fight speeding tickets

[hnumpah]

Nabbed for speeding? GPS data could get you off the hook
By Jacqui Cheng

As anyone who has ever gotten a speeding ticket knows (full disclosure: I never have... knock on wood), you often have very little ammo to fight back against the reading that the all-knowing radar gun spat out. But thanks to more sophisticated and affordable technology, that could be changing. A California teen is using GPS data to attempt to get himself off the hook for allegedly going 17 miles per hour over the speed limit, simultaneously casting doubt on the accuracy of police radars and giving hope to tech-savvy drivers.

The story started out simply enough. 18-year-old Shaun Malone was caught by a police radar going 62 in a 45 mph zone last summer. Under most circumstances, most people would assume that this was all simply true?it's not unheard of for teenagers to speed, after all. Malone's parents knew differently, though. It turns out that they had installed a GPS device from Rocky Mountain Tracking in his car in order to monitor his driving behavior.

But this was far more sophisticated than your everyday "turn left at the stop light" kind of GPS device?it tracked his speed, sending signals every 30 seconds, and was even capable of sending e-mail alerts to Malone's parents if Shaun ever exceeded 70mph. (I'm thanking my lucky stars right now that my parents didn't have access to this technology when I was a teenager.) According to the data from Shaun's GPS device, he and his parents argued that he was going exactly 45mph at almost the exact time the police radar clocked him going 62.

Unfortunately for the Malones, Shaun was found guilty of speeding in a trial-by-affidavit thanks to a report from an expert saying that the GPS data could not have been accurate. The Malones appealed the decision, however, with a hearing in the Sonoma County Superior Court earlier this month. During the new trial?where both the city and the Malones pulled out all the stops to bring in experts to argue their sides of the case, according to PressDemocrat?the same GPS expert was called to testify. Dr. Stephen Heppe ended up backtracking on his original report, however, once he was on the stand. Rocky Mountain Tracking says that Heppe "corrected" his original statements and painted the device as being quite accurate after all, "to within a couple of meters on location and to within 1mph on speed."

When the judge rules on the case in October, he could be let off the hook for his $190 speeding ticket. But the implications of the case go far beyond $190?it could change how speeding tickets are handled in the future. "This case has caught the attention of the nation, and it will set a precedent on how police departments use speed traps in the face of an increased GPS presence," Rocky Mountain Tracking president Brad Borst said in a statement. "The accuracy and reliability of GPS has helped bring this important issue into the limelight."

Of course, Borst is happy to talk up using GPS data to help keep you out of speeding tickets, as his commercial interests are in line with your interests in proving yourself innocent. However, the outcome of the case may suggest that consumer tech has reached a point at which it's considered accurate enough to hold up in court. Does this mean everyone should run out and buy GPS units for their cars that can track speed and location down to three digits to the right of the decimal point? Perhaps, if you feel the cost is worth the peace of mind and you're not a big speeder. But, as HotHardware points out, that same data could eventually be used against you, too. All the police have to do is obtain subpoena for your GPS data when you argue that you weren't really lead-footing it down a straight stretch of the highway a couple of weeks ago..

Update: Several corrections have been made regarding the conclusion of the case, as it is still ongoing. 

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080718-nabbed-for-speeding-gps-data-could-get-you-off-the-hook.html

[Michael Tee]

This looks like a pretty short-lived phenomenon.  Unless the cop clocked the kid during a sudden burst of speed in between two normal GPS transmissions, either the police radar or the GPS is not giving accurate information.

The manufacturers of both machines have a bigger interest in the outcome of these trials than the accused.  So I expect both will tweak their designs until the product is foolproof, at which point, both machines will give about the same results for any given situation and there won't be any more discrepancies, if in fact there really was one in the first place.

[Amianthus]

Unless the cop clocked the kid during a sudden burst of speed in between two normal GPS transmissions, either the police radar or the GPS is not giving accurate information.

Not a likely event. The GPS unit sends the maximum speed since the last transmission - so if the kid had a "burst" of speed up, then slowed down again in 30 seconds, the GPS unit would still send whatever the maximum speed attained in that 30 seconds.

I still remember that "60 Minutes" episode where the reporter pointed a radar gun at a tree on the side of the road and pulled the trigger. The readout on the radar gun was 28 MPH.

Speeding tickets at radar traps and red light light cameras are all the same phenomena - revenue enhancement.

[fatman]

Speeding tickets at radar traps and red light light cameras are all the same phenomena - revenue enhancement.

You nailed it.  Here in WA we have "Click it or Ticket" weekends, where cops make an effort to pull over everyone not wearing a seat belt.  Same thing.

[hnumpah]

Unless the cop clocked the kid during a sudden burst of speed in between two normal GPS transmissions, either the police radar or the GPS is not giving accurate information.

Or the cop didn't use the radar gun properly (possibly having it aimed at another vehicle that actually was speeding), or the cop was just out to write a ticket. I've had the latter happen to me. The cop was originally going to write me for DUI, except I only blew a .02 on the breathalyzer; from there he decided to write me for drinking on the highway (open container), until I pointed out he had never even looked inside my car to see if there were any open containers (there weren't). Then he decided it would be bringing untaxed liquor into the state (we lived in a dry county in Arkansas, on the border with Oklahoma, which was not dry), until I pointed out that a) he had no way of proving I had brought anything in from out of state, since he had never even checked my car (and could have just gone to another county in Arkansas to get it), and b) even if he did find any beer in my car, I was allowed to bring in up to two cases of beer from out of state untaxed. So he decided I had to be speeding, 50 in a 35, even though I  had seen him well before the speed limit dropped to 35, saw him pull in behind me, and dropped to 5 mph under the speed limit because I figured the asshole was going to pull me over. He wrote the ticket, found out I was in the military and planning to leave very early the next Friday, and set my court date for Friday afternoon because he figured I would have left to go back to Fort Meade by then and wouldn't bother to stay longer to contest the ticket (I hadn't told him I was planning to spend a week with relatives in Tennessee on the way back). I tried to get him to give me a court date on Thursday, but he refused, so I took the ticket and told him I'd see him in court, where I would explain everything that had just happened to the judge. He called me every day for the next three days trying to get me to bring the ticket in and let him void it, claiming it was a mistake. I told him it sure as hell was, trying to treat me like some Yankee tourist in my own home town while I was home on leave. The town police chief finally called me - he and my uncle were old friends and deer hunting buddies - and asked me to bring the ticket in. I finally agreed, provided he handled it himself and didn't tell the cop that wrote the ticket until after my court date on Friday - I wanted the little bastard to sweat it out all the way to the courtroom. He agreed, and I let him void the ticket so I could leave on time Friday.

Some cops really are just pricks.

[Michael Tee]

I've heard some great "some cops are pricks" stories, probably enough to start a whole new thread, but here's mine.  I was driving with an expired driver's licence when I was pulled over by two cops for speeding in the middle of nowhere on the way to one of those towns up north which has a summer population of 20,000 or so and a winter population of a few hundred.   They cautioned me not to drive the car till I renewed my licence.   

I told them I was in a real bind because I had an important business meeting in Burke's Falls in an hour.  The cop behind the wheel was adamant, it wasn't their problem, etc.  The fatter, older, gray-haired  cop on the passenger side, who had been silent until then, looked at me in a kindly way, smiled, and said, "Well, kid, we couldn't let you drive now because if you were stopped again . . . [heavy emphasis on "if" and a meaningful pause after "again"] we'd have to charge you with driving without a licence." (They'd confiscated the expired licence.)  I locked eyes with the older cop, waited about five seconds, smiled slowly and then I said, "OK, I guess I know what I gotta do.  [pause] Thanks."  The fat cop smiled at me again, I smiled back and the cop at the wheel just stared straight ahead.

The cops drove off ahead while I returned to my car and sat there a good ten minutes, listening to birds and insects.  Not a single car drove by.  Then I started off up the road, keeping a good 5 kph under the limit.  In about one or two minutes, I saw flashing red lights behind me and a different cop pulled me over and politely asked for my licence.  I pretended to look for it in my wallet, then I said, "Geeze, I dunno.  It's always here in this wallet," and he said, very firmly, "You're under arrest."

There are two morals to the story.  1, never trust a cop, and 2, how I not only talked myself out of an arrest but actually got to the meeting, admittedly late but within acceptable limits.  The only thing I'll say about the latter is, it never hurts to talk.   [one of the many reasons I consider John Insane to be a total fucking idiot]   Even when you think the situation is hopeless and there is no solution in sight, KEEP TALKING.  About anything.  Unless you say something really, really stupid, you have absolutely nothing to lose. 

BTW, just wanted to add:  I didn't really think the cop had caught the guy in a "burst" of speed, just wanted to eliminate one logical alternative before concluding that one of the two machines had to be wrong.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Here in Miami, we have a lot of lawyers that will guarantee you no points on your license and no fine for a first offense for about $10 more than the ticket.

I think it is always better to avoid paying the fine and getting the points. I have done this both times in the past ten years. Once I was caught using a "carpool-only" on ramp to I-95, and the other time I was the last of a line of about ten cars, driving through Polk County on New Year's Day. The cop said I was doing 45 in a 30 zone, but I am sure there was no such sign. Nor were there any children or other people walking along the road, or any reason not to safely drive over 50.

 He then gave me a ticket for reckless driving, because according to him, speeding would have resulted in a bigger fine. It took him over an hour to write the ticket. When I got out of the car to change a CD on the player in the trunk, he turned on his bullhorn and told me "get back in the vehicle".

It is true that cops can be pricks. I think there is a certain type of prick that can only get his jollies by getting petty authority to diddle others with.

[Michael Tee]

<<It is true that cops can be pricks. I think there is a certain type of prick that can only get his jollies by getting petty authority to diddle others with.>>

Another thing about dealing with cops on the road - - don't beg and plead with them and never EVER show that anything they do has caused you the least distress.  This is guaranteed to drive them crazy and ruin their day. 

Back in the good old days, when dope was practically free but money was scarce, I saved money wherever I could by cutting corners, and not renewing my driver's licence was one of the corners I cut.  So, sometimes I got nailed, as indicated in my last post. 

Another time, on one of our worst winter night blizzards, I was pulled over to the side of Eglinton Avenue, the longest street in Toronto, which cuts across the entire city, east to west.  Apart from a few closed car dealerships and warehouses, there were no buildings for at least a mile or more in either direction.  This was long before cellphones.  The cop gave me a ticket and told me I couldn't drive the car without first renewing my licence.  Then he gives me this expectant look, just waiting gleefully for me to start whining, complaining and begging for mercy or at least a ride in his cop car.  I just casually said "OK," like it was no problem at all, got out and locked the car, hitched up my coat collar around my wool  scarf and pulled on my gloves, preparatory to walking back a mile or so to the 24-hour coffee shop.   It was hilarious.  The cop's face visibly fell, it was almost like he wanted to sputter "But . . . but aren't you going to beg and plead with me?  Or just beg for a ride in my car?"  I walked back to the coffee shop in a howling wind with sleet, rain and ice all mixed in and phoned my dad to come pick me up.  My head looked like an iceberg and by now it was around 1:00 AM.   My dad was really pissed off at the cop  but also annoyed that I hadn't demanded a ride.   But when I described the look on the cop's face, he couldn't help laughing out loud with me.