Dashcam Vs Speed Gun

Why not put GPS in every new car and install speed limiters.
That way it would eliminate speeding.
Oh, I forgot, they need money for the Christmas party
I saw a news article announcing that Ford has done this in their testing department already. It wouldn't take too much to implement, nor do I imagine that it would be too hard for someone with enough computer and coding experience to over-ride. People are already reprogramming their cars to circumvent owner-removed pollution equipment to increase mileage and performance- an even more complex task.

But back to the OP's question, here in the US court precedence has already long been set, so in 49 States any evidence submitted by Police from properly calibrated and properly used speed-measuring equipment wins, and your only hope is to prove that at least one of those two things wasn't proper and correct.

Phil
 
I saw a news article announcing that Ford has done this in their testing department already. It wouldn't take too much to implement, nor do I imagine that it would be too hard for someone with enough computer and coding experience to over-ride. People are already reprogramming their cars to circumvent owner-removed pollution equipment to increase mileage and performance- an even more complex task.

But back to the OP's question, here in the US court precedence has already long been set, so in 49 States any evidence submitted by Police from properly calibrated and properly used speed-measuring equipment wins, and your only hope is to prove that at least one of those two things wasn't proper and correct.

Phil
Hi Phil.
Good points. When it comes to the print out from a calibrated machine, I suppose the court would turn a blind eye to what a couple hundred quid dashcam says.
If it were a police radar trap tho, I suspect it would provide vital evidence as to if the officer was using the machine correctly, was his vehicle obstructing, was he using a high vis vest. A solicitor could study the footage looking for loopholes.
 
Very timely .....

A news item on Good Morning Britain this morning focusing on a new speed camera in Plymouth UK that has caught 23,000 drivers exceeding the 20mph speed limit.

 
Very timely .....

A news item on Good Morning Britain this morning focusing on a new speed camera in Plymouth UK that has caught 23,000 drivers exceeding the 20mph speed limit.

What worries me more than the speeding is how anyone cannot see that huge yellow box. They must be driving with blinds on
 
In the UK I find Speedtrap Alert with the PGPSW database to be very useful. Not that I deliberately speed but it serves as a prompt to check the speedo.
 
What worries me more than the speeding is how anyone cannot see that huge yellow box. They must be driving with blinds on
It says that they installed an average speed system, so that huge yellow box is not what it looks like, and if they tested it before putting up the warning signs then maybe people thought they were just traffic monitoring cameras, or maybe they were enjoying their last few days of freedom, after all, even though they "got caught", they were not getting fined.

I'm actually surprised the numbers caught were that low, my experience of 20 limits in the South West is that, at least on through routes, people treat them as a 30 limit with a strict maximum instead of a 35 to 40 maximum, almost nobody does 20 in those 20 limits, not even the police, and if you do then you always have someone following you at 1 meter distance. Unfortunately in Devon they have been converting all roads to 20 limits, not just residential streets where it makes sense. When everyone is breaking the law, maybe it is the law that is in the wrong!

What worries me is them spending so much money on a 20 mph enforcement camera, when 20mph limits should only be for residential areas that should have very little traffic...
 
Consumer dash cams and their GPS units are uncalibrated and uncertified, unlike official speed monitoring devices. On that alone (discounting analysis of the video itself or other evidence) on a head-to-head basis in court the dash cam will lose.
Yeah while I can’t speak for the UK, I’m sure it’s very similar to here in the US where equipment has to be regularly certified and calibrated to ensure its measured speeds are accurate, especially given how often people will want to challenge the speeds to get out of a ticket.

IANAL, but while GPS receivers are generally very accurate, especially at constant speeds, I doubt that evidence would be admissible in court.
 
Very timely .....

A news item on Good Morning Britain this morning focusing on a new speed camera in Plymouth UK that has caught 23,000 drivers exceeding the 20mph speed limit.

People in the UK don't use apps?
Even Google Maps give speed camera warnings now. And I'm sure there is no shortage if speed camera apps or maps in the respective Apple and Google stores.
My one and only automatic enforcement camera was back in 2008 when I drove an hour to a place that I was not familiar with (smartphones were not around back then, I did not have a GPS unit and most people were still using printed Google Maps or MapQuest directions).
When I was researching which GPS unit to buy because there were many at the time from Garmin, TomTom, Magellan and others, I discovered this website which has a verifiable camera database updated weekly that I installed in my GPS: http://www.poi-factory.com/poifiles/us/red-light-cameras
My Garmin GPS that I eventually bought that same year always warned me "Caution: you are now approaching a red light camera" or "Mobile Police radar ahead" depending on the type of enforcement camera present after I installed the database from the above website and I updated the database weekly.
I got my first smartphone in 2012 (Samsung Galaxy S2) and saw how accurate Google Maps was on the phone compared to the mapping provider that my Garmin GPS uses which was Navteq that I began searching for an immediate replacement.
I heard about Waze and tried it but did not like the interface at all (too cartoony), the warnings(too many "car on shoulder" warnings which bear no relevance because I only care about enforcement cameras and not it telling me that there is a car parked on the shoulder of a highway!), and I also did not like nor participate the social media aspect of it.

I later read an article from the New York Times about enforcement camera apps in Europe: https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/01/...d-cameras-meet-their-technological-match.html
After testing out a few mentioned in the article, I installed "RadarDroid Pro" because it allowed me to continue using Google Maps app and was simply an interface on top of Google Maps that I did not have to open a separate app; and it was also compatible with the camera database that I mentioned earlier which I uploaded to it.
At some point a few years down the line in 2014 when I got a new phone Nexus 5 (or maybe it was after I got the Google Pixel in 2016...don't remember the exact timing as I've used both phones), I noticed that Google Maps was now giving me those same warnings without having RadarDroid installed.

Since then, I'm a bit smarter now and always monitor my speed along with the speed of others in traffic. And if I do speed, it is never more than 5-10MPH above the posted speed limit.
Glad to see that POI Factory is still active and that they still update their database weekly though.

In general...again if one is going at the speed of traffic, it's not something that one should worry about.
If majority of traffic is driving faster than the posted speed limit and then they slow down all of a sudden to the speed limit, then there is likely an enforcement camera or a police speed trap nearby.
 
Yeah while I can’t speak for the UK, I’m sure it’s very similar to here in the US where equipment has to be regularly certified and calibrated to ensure its measured speeds are accurate, especially given how often people will want to challenge the speeds to get out of a ticket.

IANAL, but while GPS receivers are generally very accurate, especially at constant speeds, I doubt that evidence would be admissible in court.
I have heard of people having their cases automatically dismissed in court due to failure of the officer to appear. Not sure how common that is?
I think this only works though if an actual officer pulled you over and wrote you a ticket though, and not one of those automatic enforcement cameras. But then again...you are essentially banking on that officer that wrote you the ticket not showing up in court for something like this to work out in your favor.
 
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Google Maps speed cameras in the UK are very few. That's why I use Speedtrap Alert.

I use the M4 between Heathrow and Reading regularly and there are about 20 speed cameras in each direction, both Specs and Hadecs. Google Maps only shows one, Westbound.

Speedtrap Alert gives me a verbal warning over the car system with camera type and speed so I can keep my eyes on the road.
 
Google Maps speed cameras in the UK are very few. That's why I use Speedtrap Alert.

I use the M4 between Heathrow and Reading regularly and there are about 20 speed cameras in each direction, both Specs and Hadecs. Google Maps only shows one, Westbound.

Speedtrap Alert gives me a verbal warning over the car system with camera type and speed so I can keep my eyes on the road.
Interesting as Google is accurate for me in my local area here in the USA.
How accurate is Waze over there in the UK and do people even use it there or is that a US thing?
 
Waze is quite popular here but like you it's too 'Fisher Price' for me.
 
Google Maps speed cameras in the UK are very few. That's why I use Speedtrap Alert.
Speed camera alerts are for people who want to intentionally break the law.

Google Maps speed limit database for the UK is very accurate, it can warn you whenever you accidently go above the speed limit, and when you pass a change in speed limit sign at above the new limit, accurate to the meter. That should be a better system for everybody.
 
Speed camera alerts are for people who want to intentionally break the law.

Google Maps speed limit database for the UK is very accurate, it can warn you whenever you accidently go above the speed limit, and when you pass a change in speed limit sign at above the new limit, accurate to the meter. That should be a better system for everybody.
Is it accurate tho.?
 
Speed camera alerts are for people who want to intentionally break the law.

Totally disagree.

These days, cars are very quiet and comfortable and it's very easy to accidentally exceed speed limits.

I run a speed camera database just as a reminder to check my speedo rather than driving around glued to the speedo.

With regard to Google Maps speed limits, yes they are quite accurate but we were discussing Google Maps speed cameras that IMO are almost non existant in the UK on the roads I've used.
 
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