speeding 1km over
 

just a question im asking for a friend. He got a ticket 146-3 for speeding 1km over the limit (50 zone) His arguement is that he is allowed to be plus or minus 10km difference before a ticket qualifies. I dissagree. Speeding is speeding. He is now saying his spedometer is not 100% accurate and blah blah.... Is there a rule anywhere in the bc act stating there is room for error on a spedometer?

doesn't matter if his speedo was on fire. that's on him for having a faulty speedo.

speeding is speeding in the eyes of the law. your friend is an idiot.

If taken to court, he would probably be let off.

1km over the speed limit is very small and having a worn tire can cause that kind of deviation in the speed reading at your speedo and the actually ground speed. If an officer ticketed him for only going 1km/h over 50 then that cop was having a piss poor day or your friend was pissing him off.

he may have gotten a ticket for 1km over, but what did the cop actually radar him at?

I find it really hard to believe a cop would waste that much time for a 51km radar.

If the cop wrote him a ticket for 51km/h, there is a 99.9999999999% your buddy was caught doing 80km/h, and the cop was being nice and giving him the lowest bracket ticket he could.

Just pay up dude

Wrong. Not an opinion. Fact. End debate.

Onus is on the driver to make sure the vehicle is performing properly, including having a speedometer that reflects the speed properly.

With that said, definitely possible he could get leniency if brought to the court.

There is not a vehicle in existence that has a speedo that is 100% accurate. It does not exist, there is always variances in the speed, and as the speed increases so does the variance.

During manufacture of a motor vehicle they are required to produce a speedometer that has no more than 5% variance, and the majority of vehicles tested are closes to 2.5% +/- the indicated speed. This variable coupled with the fact that you can drive on a tire that is worn, it could be under inflated due to cold road conditions etc etc, you would have a discrepancy of +/- 1.25km/h or greater. There is also variables to take into effect of the radar/laser unit to take into effect.

Simply based upon these facts, you can go to court and any reasonable judge will throw it out because there are to many variables.

Based upon what an auto maker is allowed to make, if the vehicle has a positive difference of 5% which is allowed by law, then he should legally be allowed to be travelling at 52.5km/h before he should be able to be ticketed.

BUT as others have said, if he said 51km/h he was PROBABLY travelling much faster and the cop was being nice and only ticketed him for a lesser offence.

I really don't believe any cop would write a ticket for going 1km over the limit if that's now fast you were actually going ... There must be more to this story

Under normal circumstances, nobody ever wrote a VT for 1kmh over the limit. The VT was issued for doing at least 1kmh over the limit and not more than 19 k over...same fine. Speeding is an absoloute liability charge....you MUST NOT exceed the posted limit...1kmh over is technically speeding. In 28 years I never heard of anyone getting an actual 1KMH TICKET...ANYWHERE.

It doesn't matter if you speed by 1KPH or 10KPH, speeding is speeding :troll:

In all seriousness, that cop must have been having a really bad day or an asshole if your friend really did get pulled over for going ONE km over the limit.

Zulu needs to confirm on this buuuuutt...

Police Radar Detection equipment has a tolerance of +/- 2km/h..

Thus if the ticket was written for 51km/h in a 50 zone, he could dispute it on possibility of faulty equipment.


---Now if your friend actually was doing something like 80 in a 50 and he disputes this, I hope he goes to court, and the judge makes him pay double for being a fucking drain on society.

It doesn't matter if the speedometer is accurate or not.
Check what he was actually clocked and we can discuss from there

Let me bust your myth...the Radar and Laser units are checked with various methods before and after use and must correctly and accurately display the required goodies before being used. If they don't, they don't get used. They are accurate is as much as they only display whole numbers...eg 55kmh....not 55.792 kmh. Once again...NOBODY ever issues a normal speeding ticket for 1kmh over the limit under normal circumstances. I have issued VTs for people doing the posted limit when circumstances said they were speeding "relative to conditions"....eg dense fog, snow, icy roads etc.

Maybe if speed is such the serious crime we've all been told it is more tickets should be issued for 1KM/Hr over the limit... :)

You check radar with a tuning fork, but how do you check laser? Last I heard they run a "self calibration" routine. That sounds trustworthy...

Depending on the equipment the manufacturers do specify an accuracy of +/- 1km/hr (or more for the cheaper units).

There are 4 seperate tests used to confirm the Laser is operating correctly and none are "self calibration"....and as I said above, the 1kmh +- is because they only display whole numbers, not fractions. The lasers do display the distance to target in tenths of a metre though...eg 357.6m.

I heard an interesting discussion on radio on Friday about Police being required to wear body cams all the time on duty. This would of course mean that discretion would have to be a thing of the past. If if evidence was collected (recorded) then every single offence would have to be charged for and from then on 1kmh tickets are a possibility, as would multiple charges for every single law broken and your sense buddies would no longer be of any use. :)

Only problem with that "excuse" is that a smaller tire will cause a speedo to read higher, so in theory worn tires should "inspire" someone to drive slower :troll:

This is true but is a factor in speedo error. The same size tire from one manufacturer to another are in fact different sizes. Some have more plys than others, tread patterns etc that will alter there outside diameter. This change in diameter (weather worn or new) will effect the reading you have on your dash.

For instance, the Pilot Sport A/S and the Cup 2 that I have, despite being the same tire "size" they have different outer diameters. The Cup 2 is a larger diameter than the A/S and when mounted would give me a positive speedo error on my car (less than 1% but its there).

Unless, the car had the incorrect size wheel/tires, it could cause the speedo to be off.

----------
Not saying this has has happened here, but I do know in some school zones, cops have literally pulled people over for 1 km/h or 1 mph over the limit a school zone. Seen a clip on TV on the news about it years ago.

Like I said, the manufacture for the instrument clusters for cars have a buffer of 5%+/- on the readings. So to issue for 1km/h over is easy to fight and win as there is no way you can know if your cluster is out and how much it is out.

No one has an accurate speed reading in there vehicle. It simply does not exist and any officer trying to enforce a 1km/h over at 50km/h is an idiot. But like said before, chances are in this case, he was much more than 1km/h over and was ticketed for the lesser offense.

Speeding is an absoloute liability charge....you MUST NOT exceed the posted limit...1kmh over is technically speeding.

To quote from my post above again...you are mistaken...it is up to you to ensiure you do not exceed the limit...technically even by 1kmh..

No I'm not, and the MVA and all current auto makers will back it. If you are traveling at an indicated 50km/h in your vehicle, you are 100% stock, factory everything and its all in proper working order and you are pulled over for 51km/h you can fight it and win.
The automakers/parts suppliers are allowed a variable in parts of 5% +/- on instrument readings. This covers the speedometer, tachometer and any other displayed gauge. Given they are legally allowed to supply you a speedometer that reads 50 but actual ground speed is in fact 52.5km/h (at the largest legal variable they allow for, most speedos in fact read 2.5% +/- indicated speed)

1km/h over is speeding, but there is an allowable limit within the confines of mechanical and electronic variables as there is no 100% accurate way to measure a speed using any current radar/laser/speedo/etc.
Radar and laser speed meters have enough of a manufactured variable in there readings that a 1km/h over/under speed reading is within there variable seeing as they in fact don not read tenths of a km/h.

If an officer wants to ticket for 1km/h over, they can and they are allowed to as it is speeding, HOWEVER you can and will win in court if they ticket for this due to the variables in the reading equipment, and the vehicles equipment.
That being said, I have a number of friends who are officers and have known many more and I have never once heard of them ticketing for 1km/h over. I would wager to say that there is not a single member on here who have received a ticket for an actual 1km/h over and the reasons why are above.

Also, considering there is no 100% accurate speed reading, there is no way that you can ensure that you are not exceeding the speed limit by a very small margin. So to say that one must make sure they are not speeding, it cant be done. If you are traveling at an indicated 50km/h, then you are doing you duty to ensure you are traveling at the speed given the information you are provided.

I'd like to see a ticket for going 51 in a 50. I'd call BS on anyone who told me a story like that.