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I'm due in court this friday for speeding. I intend to fight the prosecution all out, as I genuinely believe I was not speeding.
It happened back in August, travelling south on the A3 in Surrey, just after the 50 limit. This is a wide stretch of 3 lane dual carriage way, it was a clear, sunny day and there was light traffic. I came around the corner in lane 3 with another car infront of me, and slower moving traffic to my left (it's a left hand corner) and noticed a traffic police car in the layby about half way up the straight - checked my speed and continued at an indicated 70mph. The car in front of me pulled into lane 2 as I came off the corner.
As I passed the police car I noticed the officer who was operating the laser gun getting in the car (the other officer remained in the drivers seat throughout). They screamed up behind me, and flashed their lights, so I pulled over as directed at the next junction.
They accused me of travelling 107mph, recorded at a distance of 409.5 meters, with a Klasse LTI 20/20 and said I would be considered for prosecution. They also accused me of having no insurance (which I did, and later proved).
A few things seem odd here. The officers statement says that he observed my car travelling in excess of the speed limit, then took a reading with the laser gun. The point where they were parked was only 500 meters from the corner, so even at 70mph they would have about 2 seconds to observe my car, line up the laser gun and get a reading. For some of this time there was another car in front of me. The officers statement claims he had a "clear and unobstructed view" and makes no mention of the car in front of me.
Secondly, as it also says in his statement I was in lane 3 passing other cars, so infact the window in which he could observe this would be even less, as coming off the corner I would have had other cars directly blocking his view of me.
Basically, he was pointing the laser into oncoming traffic.
Thirdly, the second officer says in his statement that he also observed my excess speed, even though he was in the drivers seat throughout.
I've asked for calibration certificates, and have recieved one from December the 4th, 8 months before. Is this normal?
According to ACPO guidelines the device should be calibrated before every period of enforcemet, and this should be noted in the officers notebook. I have copies of both officers notebooks and it was not. It seems like the calibration certificate is an annual one issued by Teletraffic, so this could be in order, but should there be any daily record of it's calibration?
Finally, according to ACPO guidelines the officer should use laser devices within 10 feet of the edge of the carriage way. The nearside of the layby is some 34 feet away from the middle of lane 3. True it is only about 8 feet from the edge of lane 1, but I would assume the carriage way refers to the lane in which the target vehicle is travelling - is this correct?
In my view, the officer got an erroneous reading from something and picked out the most likely culprit - me. From what I have read the LTI is accurate but not infallible, especially if not used properly! My aim is simply to cast as much "reasonable doubt" on things as possible.
I already have photographs and measurements of the location, calibration certificates, training certificates and copies of both officers statements and notebooks. There is no video or photographic evidence.
Has anyone else fought or have experience of a similar case, and do they have any advice they can share which might help in this case? I'm due in court this Friday, so it's getting late to ask for any more evidence. Especially helpful would be any pointers as to what to say in court, what amongst the above are the best areas to press, and what is not worth mentioning.
PS. Lots of people have already told me I will lose, and well I might. I realise this so if that's what you want to say then save it!
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