EXPERIMENTS with INFRA RED light on the vehicle. Cop stylie

After the Montgomery case in Carlisle, you would have thought that the SCPs and other users would have tightened up on procedures to ensure that the LTI was not misused.

However, a recent case has once more shown that the device is fallible in the wrong hands!

Speeding accusation of 63mph in a 50mph limit

Operator ex traffic BiB, and yet the Chairman of the bench found operator evidence "unconvincing and unreliable", legalese for He was telling porkies?Hence not guilty verdict!

www.thisisbristol.co.uk/news/Biker-cleared-Portway-speeding/article-3492472-detail/article.html

'Other convictions could be on shaky ground' says Bristol biker cleared of speeding




By daniel evans crime correspondent

A MOTORCYCLIST who successfully contested a speeding charge is telling other drivers and riders that their convictions could be on shaky ground.

Mark Lindsay, from Windmill Hill, was cleared after a day-long trial in Taunton.

The not guilty verdict of the magistrates called into question whether the laser and camera used by enforcement officer Clive Walsh were aligned properly.

On April 22 last year, Mr Lindsay was apparently clocked driving his 800cc Honda VFR at 63mph on the A4 Portway near Shirehampton as he drove to work in Cardiff.

Having already accepted a fine and three penalty points for driving over the 50mph limit the month before, he decided to contest the second allegation, believing he was not driving as fast as he was accused of.

The 58-year-old software engineer, of Cotswold Road, said: "I asked for photographic evidence and was sent a photograph plus a map showing that the location of the camera unit was the same place as the previous offence.

"I knew the speed could not be right because, since the first offence I had been scrupulously careful about staying within 50mph all along the 50 limit on the Portway.

"The photograph I was sent shows a car directly in line with my bike but ahead of me.

"I am in the inside lane and the car is in the outside lane. I decided that the laser must have somehow picked up the car's speed instead of mine.

"I searched the internet and discovered there are a lot of anomalies with the LTi 20-20 laser system used. Subsequently, video evidence shows my bike in the inside lane, with car accelerating away from me, in the outside lane, clearly going considerably faster."

Video and speed measurement expert Tim Farrow told the court in his opinion the laser device and camera were not aligned properly and the laser had clocked the nearby car. He surmised that either camera enforcement officer Mr Walsh accidently clocked the car, or was deliberately aiming for the car, but as the cross hairs on the video recorded were fixed in the motorbike, the fine was sent to Mr Lindsay.

"I think it's ridiculous that I've had to go through this year-long process for something that should have been thrown out long ago," said Mr Lindsay. "As I was found not guilty, my expert witness Tim Farrow and advice on internet suggests the whole session was erroneous and therefore the 20 other people convicted during this session should have their convictions overturned.

"I would advise them to get in contact with Mr Farrow."

Police spokesman Martin Dunscombe said: "The evidence in this case was placed before the magistrates and we respect the verdict the magistrates came to."

On April 1, Safety Camera Partnerships around the country were disbanded after the Government pulled funding for them. As a consequence, fixed speed cameras and red light cameras in the Avon and Somerset police force area were switched off. However, the force still uses mobile units to catch speeding drivers.

Mr Farrow can be contacted on 01726 63755.

It seems that the LTI laser beam was not aligned with the cross hairs on the video!