Speed camera calibration

plastic-man

Speeding. Supposedly doing 64kph in a 50kph zone. Usually I'd never let the speedo go above 60kph (on that particular road..) and I know it's 3-4kph slower than actual speed.

I asked about the calibration of the camera and he said it was calibrated 12 months ago. He refused to provide any proof of this tonight though, which basically defeats the purpose of being entitled to ask. I was told if I wanted to see evidence, I'd have to go to the station, but not tonight... Anything particular to ask?

Anyone any insight on the issue of speed camera calibration? How often is it required to be done?

johnos1984

I understand it's meant to be done after a certain number of hours but I could be wrong

dougie-lampkin

plastic-man wrote: »

I asked about the calibration of the camera and he said it was calibrated 12 months ago. He refused to provide any proof of this tonight though, which basically defeats the purpose of being entitled to ask. I was told if I wanted to see evidence, I'd have to go to the station, but not tonight... Anything particular to ask?

Of course you're entitled to ask, you're entitled to ask the man what he had for dinner. But that doesn't mean he's obliged to answer you. In Ireland the calibration of speed metering devices (so that's all Garda handheld speed guns and all speed vans) is not obliged to be proven. Up until a few years ago this was always the "get-out clause" of a speeding ticket, since you had a good chance there was no calibration cert.

I've heard the handheld guns are meant to calibrated at the start and end of each day.

plastic-man

dougie-lampkin wrote: »

plastic-man wrote: »

I asked about the calibration of the camera and he said it was calibrated 12 months ago. He refused to provide any proof of this tonight though, which basically defeats the purpose of being entitled to ask. I was told if I wanted to see evidence, I'd have to go to the station, but not tonight... Anything particular to ask?

Of course you're entitled to ask, you're entitled to ask the man what he had for dinner. But that doesn't mean he's obliged to answer you. In Ireland the calibration of speed metering devices (so that's all Garda handheld speed guns and all speed vans) is not obliged to be proven. Up until a few years ago this was always the "get-out clause" of a speeding ticket, since you had a good chance there was no calibration cert.

I've heard the handheld guns are meant to calibrated at the start and end of each day.

So you're saying they're meant to do it each day, but they don't have to prove it? I was told by the Garda that this could be proven at the station today. Where can I find evidence that it has to be done so often?

Del2005

plastic-man wrote: »

So you're saying they're meant to do it each day, but they don't have to prove it? I was told by the Garda that this could be proven at the station today. Where can I find evidence that it has to be done so often?

AFAIK all the daily calibration is to stand at a know point and measure the distance to a marker, seen it done on a UK cop show ages ago. The annual calibration is a bigger job.

But none of this will get you off. With our laws the Gardaí only need to form an opinion you where speeding and it'd be your word against theirs in court and who is the Judge going to believe?

You're wasting your time going back to the station looking for calibration data.

plastic-man

"You're wasting your time going back to the station looking for calibration data."

Is this the general consensus here guys? Let it be, waste of time, take the pts?

paulmclaughlin

Take the point's, you were still going 60 in a 50. Not much I know but still.

plastic-man

paulmclaughlin wrote: »

Take the point's, you were still going 60 in a 50. Not much I know but still.

Yeh, I know they must draw the line somewhere and if you're over, you're over. However Im still calling for an advance driving test which tests car control under different situations. Once passed. You're allowed 40% over limit. Ha. I do hate however, how the state defines what we perceive "speeding" to be. Hit them at 50 or 60 and it's going to be messy regardless.

plastic-man

paulmclaughlin wrote: »

Take the point's, you were still going 60 in a 50. Not much I know but still.

Yeh, I know they must draw the line somewhere and if you're over, you're over. However Im still calling for an advance driving test which tests car control under different situations. Once passed. You're allowed 40% over limit. Ha. I do hate however, how the state defines what we perceive "speeding" to be. Hit them at 50 or 60 and it's going to be messy regardless.

dougie-lampkin

plastic-man wrote: »

So you're saying they're meant to do it each day, but they don't have to prove it?

Welcome to Ireland, you must be new here :P


http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2004/en/act/pub/0044/sec0015.html#sec15

They don't have to prove to you that the gun was calibrated or even in working order. They might well show you the cert anyway, but they're not obliged to.

paulmclaughlin

plastic-man wrote: »

Yeh, I know they must draw the line somewhere and if you're over, you're over. However Im still calling for an advance driving test which tests car control under different situations. Once passed. You're allowed 40% over limit. Ha. I do hate however, how the state defines what we perceive "speeding" to be. Hit them at 50 or 60 and it's going to be messy regardless.

Where do you do that test? Yeah you're right there.

Paddy001

plastic-man wrote: »

Yeh, I know they must draw the line somewhere and if you're over, you're over. However Im still calling for an advance driving test which tests car control under different situations. Once passed. You're allowed 40% over limit. Ha. I do hate however, how the state defines what we perceive "speeding" to be. Hit them at 50 or 60 and it's going to be messy regardless.

Where did you get this idea from? I heard of advanced driving courses, but I doubt you're then allowed to drive over the limit, never heard that before

mondeo

I have been down this route before looking for proof of device calibration. It was an awkward request as they could not or refused to show me proof. At the last minute I paid the fine. It was a 60kph stretch I got done on which I regulary travelled and knew there were checks on it so I was like hawk eye watching my speedo yet I still got done on it. I'm personaly at the opinion that in my case the device used to measure my speed was not calibrated as I was so cautious on the stretch everytime I used it. N81 passed blessington.

guil

Del2005 wrote: »

AFAIK all the daily calibration is to stand at a know point and measure the distance to a marker, seen it done on a UK cop show ages ago. The annual calibration is a bigger job.

But none of this will get you off. With our laws the Gardaí only need to form an opinion you where speeding and it'd be your word against theirs in court and who is the Judge going to believe?

You're wasting your time going back to the station looking for calibration data.

saw a go safe van this evening getting set up and the operator was standing behind it with the doors open with a marked pole

THe daily thing would be simply a check, the annual or however often the calibration is performed would be ideally across the full range and the gun would be adjusted as necessary. Interestingly in many industries if a critical instrument is found to be out of tolerance at time of calibration a risk assessment would be done to determine the effect, it would be logged and recorded along with the risk assessment and product may have to be recalled from the market, I'd be thinking AGS don't employ similar tactics if a speed gun is found to be over reading.

-Chris-

You're wasting your time, as has been previously posted, the law presumes it's calibrated.

Whether you get proof of calibration from the Gardai or not, if you get as far as court the judge'd just ignore it as the law's already answered the question.

Take the points and move on.