This is actually a really depressing story. This bloke spent all this time trying to prove something using high brow maths equations and fancy experiments but was wrong - don't know how he was, whether or not the prosecution got in there own, better university-standard physicists etc but he lost. And it's going to cost him £15,000, or £15,060 - actually I imagine they do add the £60 on rather than included it, just to really grind you down, the bastards.
The final quote too from Philip Gwynne seems a bit rich. Speed is only measured by distance over time so the laws of the land are based in physics. Still if you can happily make snide comments as a qualified university lecturer is hit with a £15,000 fine for having the temerity to use his intelligence to try and use the courts to disprove a £60 fine then you've got to be a bit smug haven't you? The message here is, don't try and stand up for yourself.
Why does he need to be fined £15,000? Using legal recourse to try and defend yourself shouldn't mean the risk of incurring huge, unpayable fines should it? It sounds utterly Daily Mail to say but there will be people who commit far worse 'crimes' than this who will end up getting lower fines or token jail time (which is evidently not so bad), while this poor bloke admits he faces bankruptcy. Nice.
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Tuesday 12 November 1661
7 hours ago
5 comments:
The "cosine effect" can only give a recorded speed lower than the actual speed, so it sounds like he was trying to blind the court with science rather than make a proper defence.
I don't claim to know the ins and outs and whatnot, it's just the ruthless near-destruction of someone’s life with a ridiculously high fine that I was railing against. Whether his defence was sound or, as you say blinding them with science, is another blog that I won't write - even if I wanted to I couldn't. Dan.
Well, I was thinking that could plausibly be why the fine was set so high -- because his defence was utterly fraudulent.
I'm still baffled by the quote from Philip Gwynne, by the way.
The GATSO 24 radar corrects for the cosine error on the assumption that it is aligned at 20 degrees to the traffic. If it is actually aligned at less than 20 degrees then it will give a falsely high reading.
yeah Dan poor old university lecturers, they only get 63 weeks holiday, 50K and then try and pull all the female students down the union.
The £15K is from the costs (they actually incurred £25K of costs, so they are £10K out of pocket for being right.)
The moral of the story is, if your wrong dont waste public money trying to get off a £60 fine.
Phillip Gwynne is talking shit.
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