Case Pits Police Radar Against GPS in Teen's Car
GPS has many uses, and its use has been expanded to include tracking of teens by parents. Now it might just prove to get a teen out of trouble.
The case represents the first time anyone has contested a speeding ticket in Sonoma County courts using a global positioning system, which pinpoints speed and location using lightning-fast calculations and satellites.
All GPS systems installed in vehicles calculate speed and location, but the tracking device in Malone's 2000 Toyota Celica GTS downloads the information to his parent's computer.
The family says, based on the data, that Malone was going the posted speed limit of 45 mph on Lakeville Highway the morning of July 4 at virtually the same time and location where a Petaluma motorcycle officer used radar to cite the teen for going 62 mph.
Interesting, but if we were jurors we'd want to know just how accurate that speed data generated by that specific GPS unit would be. If you were a juror, would you trust a GPS unit or a time-tested radar unit?
The case represents the first time anyone has contested a speeding ticket in Sonoma County courts using a global positioning system, which pinpoints speed and location using lightning-fast calculations and satellites.
All GPS systems installed in vehicles calculate speed and location, but the tracking device in Malone's 2000 Toyota Celica GTS downloads the information to his parent's computer.
The family says, based on the data, that Malone was going the posted speed limit of 45 mph on Lakeville Highway the morning of July 4 at virtually the same time and location where a Petaluma motorcycle officer used radar to cite the teen for going 62 mph.
Interesting, but if we were jurors we'd want to know just how accurate that speed data generated by that specific GPS unit would be. If you were a juror, would you trust a GPS unit or a time-tested radar unit?
