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Police cruiser speedometer Calibration...CA LAWS???

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ozzy1998

Junior Member
I live in Northern California and got a ticket in late July for allegedly going 65 in a 35, but the "nice" officer wrote me down to 55. He had no radar and at the time said NOTHING about pacing me. Rather he said he saw me pass and could hear my engine acclerating while he was parked at the 7-11.

To cut a long story short....

I lost the court case as the cop claimed he was pacing me, however, I know for a fact he was not. The Judge asked to see the calibration log for the vehicle however the officer admitted his vehicle has not been calibrated. The judge told him he was supposed to get this done every year.

I need to know how this can apply to me and possibly to an appeal. If it is true that the officer's cruiser needs a speedometer calibration every year I see a possiblity of my case being dismissed as it casts reasonable doubt that I was going 65.

Thanks for any and all help, any ordinaces or laws, would greatly help as I need to research further beyond the realm of a public forum!

Ozzy.
 
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rmet4nzkx

Senior Member
Ask for the traffic survey, if there is not a recent one that may help as they are not usually up to date and people seldom ask.
 

CdwJava

Senior Member
ozzy1998 said:
I live in Northern California and got a ticket in late July for allegedly going 65 in a 35, but the "nice" officer wrote me down to 55. He had no radar and at the time said NOTHING about pacing me. Rather he said he saw me pass and could hear my engine acclerating while he was parked at the 7-11.
What section was cited?

Also, visual estimation IS a permissable method of determining speed. It is still up to the officer to convince a court that his method of determining your speed was valid, but it is possible.


The judge told him he was supposed to get this done every year.
The agency SHOULD do it, but I do not believe there is any statutory authority that requires them to do so. It just puts pacing of another vehicle in doubt.


I need to know how this can apply to me and possibly to an appeal. If it is true that the officer's cruiser needs a speedometer calibration every year I see a possiblity of my case being dismissed as it casts reasonable doubt that I was going 65.
Just as it went down ... the vehicle had not been calibrated therefore you argue that the accuracy of the pace is in doubt.

How you might put that in to a motion for an appeal is beyond my knowledge.

- Carl
 

ozzy1998

Junior Member
What information is contained in a traffic survey?

The section is a CVC 22350-Speeding. The wording of the commisioner was quite tricky and hard for me to understand as took the officer's word that he was pacing me but then called it a visual estimation... Is pacing without VASCAR considered visual estimation, cause the officer was pacing me without VASCAR. I plan to go to the Police Dept and get any info about the officer history and his cruiser that is public access.

I feel the interest of justice was not served as the judge knew about his speedometer not being calibrated within the time frame but still accepted that his speedometer was accurate and that he was indeed pacing me at 65

I had the chance to go to traffic school but I am 100% sure that I was not speeding and that the officer was not pacing me, however, I am not bold enough to accuse him of perjury and risk defamation of character when its his word against mine, cause it seems that his word is superior to mine in front of a judge/commissioner.

This speedometer calibration will hopefully be a loop hole for me to get an appeal and hopefully a dismissal.

Thanks again for all the help, yall are doing an awesome service to the less informed of our society!
 
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CdwJava

Senior Member
ozzy1998 said:
What information is contained in a traffic survey?
The engineering study and estimated safe speeds of the roadway.


Is pacing without VASCAR considered visual estimation, cause the officer was pacing me without VASCAR. I plan to go to the Police Dept and get any info about the officer history and his cruiser that is public access.
Visual estimation is a valid means of estimating speed. It may be difficult to prove, and the officer will have to assert his training, experience, and knowledge, but it IS possible. I have made speeding cases with visual estimation and have thus far never lost one made on that estimation.

As an aside, in CA radar operators are trained in visual estimation with the use of the radar being done to confirm the visual estimation. Thus, their visual estimation of speed is usually pretty 'right on'. If this officer was radar-trained, chances are he will prevail.

Just going to the desk is not going to allow you access to anything. You can file for Discovery and the calibration records (or lack thereof) can be turned over to you. But depending on what you're asking about the officer, you may not get it. If you are asking about how many tickets he has written in the last year, they might have that information available for Discovery ... or, they might not. Plus, you should have SOME use for the information requested. And if you ask for any personnel information, you AIN'T gonna get it.


I feel the interest of justice was not served as the judge knew about his speedometer not being calibrated within the time frame but still accepted that his speedometer was accurate and that he was indeed pacing me at 65
Well, even if he was off by 20 MPH, you were still going well over the limit. That's probably what the commissioner was considering. It's highly doubtful that the officer's speedometer was off by 40 MPH or more!


This speedometer calibration will hopefully be a loop hole for me to get an appeal and hopefully a dismissal.
It might be. But not having any experience with appeals, I couldn't say.


- Carl
 

rmet4nzkx

Senior Member
Remember for an appeal you have to have a reason. Don't forget to get the traffic survey in addition to the callibraiton records. But if he was sitting in the parking lot, how could the callibration come into play? A visual estimation is one thing in a trained individual, but the sound of your engine may be even harder to prove. That is why the traffic study is important because it shows data on how fast most traffic travels on that road section and the judge is allowed to dismiss the charge if you fall within a certain speed range, also check road signs etc. in the area. It is possible that if you were confused when the commissioner was talking, perhaps they were giving you the information you needed, did you ask for a continuance? If not, an appeal is harder.
 

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