hedgehog

In the past the issue of the calibration of roadside Gatso cameras has been largely beyond attack. However in a case due to be heard on 23rd January in Tapton Magistrates Court Chesterfield one of the witnesses being called is a representitive of Gatso Cameras in Holland. The defendant believes that some of the cameras are not being correctly calibrated/maintained and he is calling the chap from Gatso to support his case.

It will certainly be interesting to see the outcome of this, I can't imagine any representitive of Gatso biting the hand that feeds them and I really can't see such a complex argument getting a fair hearing in a Magistrates court but worth watching.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

I like the dutch.

If this Dutchman tells it like it is...I'll like them even more

boomer

Does anyone know what happened to David Edgar????

His website seems to have disappeared (or perhaps was pulled by the authorities )

mb

hedgehog

Last I heard the police nicked him, using a little more force than might have been necessary, and that seemed to shut him up a bit. I think he got to spend a while in hospital etc.

In saying that he was behaving like a nutter as he had a court summons but didn't bother turning up, hence why the police entered his house to make the arrest. There are certainly two sides to that part of the story, though the possibility that it was all done to frighten him off has crossed everyone's minds I suppose.

His assertions about the timing of the Gatso flashes, however, almost certainly had some foundation to them and there were reports of some of the partnerships making "corrections" to their units in light of what Mr. Edgar turned up. It is possible that there are still a lot of units out there with the errors Mr. Edgar documented. I will see if I can find out any more about what he is up to.

Billbill

Welcome to NicIIS1.

Your domain is registered and parked for you.

Please contact support@nicnames.co.uk.

So much for http://www.notsoaccurate.com/

hedgehog

After some investigation it seems that Mr. Edgar is involved in the case due to be heard on 23rd. I have no further info on that at present but it adds even more interest to the situation as the case might be based on the timing issue. If that is so then it could be an entertaining day indeed.

boomer

I believe that he offered himself as an "expert witness" for others going to trial, so it will indeed be interesting.

Even if he was a bit of a "nutter", the way that the authorities tried to stitch him up (details were on his now expired web-site) is disgusting

I guess that we will know more next week - fingers crossed!

mb

mart360

Isnt the other big case due to be heard in brussels this month,

would like to see tone get a bloody nose on that one


Mart

Leslie

In that case of the motor cyclist who was summonsed for doing 42 mph and eventually was able to prove he was only doing 18 mph when he had got the photos after 7 months wait, the Gatso man admitted in court that it was possible that the 'bus going the other way had triggered the camera because the radar was looking along the side of the 'bus!

If this sort of thing can happen, why are they still using what is obviously an unfairly inaccurate method of measuring a motorist's speed?

Les

SJ_Skyline

Because they are a bunch of fascist *****?

hedgehog

I suspect this might be the ECHR case being brought by Idris Francis that you mean. It is still not clear exactly when the outcome of this case will become known but it will probably be in the first quarter of this year. A win will certainly work against automated policing systems and for the re-introduction of well trained police on the roads however it may not be a total disaster for the government as the situation will still be complicated.

As others have said the camera system is not always totally reliable, often the cameras produce rubbish and in the following case, of a tractor doing 85mph, it seems they are claiming that the system produced rubbish:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_west/4626952.stm

Of course an innocent motorist who had been in the area might just have accepted the fine and if the media hadn't been involved and the vehicle been a tractor then experience shows that the camera partnerships don't back down under any circumstances, cloned number plate with a good alibi or not. So, with this in mind it is important to always get all the photos and to make sure that it was your car and that you were actually exceeding the posted limit. In more and more cases people are requesting the pictures and are finding that it wasn't them, that they weren't exceeding the limit or even that no photographic evidence actually exists at all.