Need Help. Documentation on Inaccurate Speedos?

Rapid Dog · 01-30-2004, 02:25 PM

I have this bloody speeding ticket to deal with.
64mph in a 55 zone.
I say I was at 60.
I also say that BMW motorcycle speedos have been known to be inaccurate up to 5mph over actual speed.
It would be really cool if I could find some documentation that proves this or shows that it is at least a true statement.
Any resources out there would be grand.

THe King of Cally

ckcarr · ckcarr's Garage

You could print out some of the posts where we complain about the speedo saying 145 mph and we are only really going 137 mph. Maybe that will help with the judge.

wswartzwel · 01-30-2004, 02:35 PM

My speedo says 70 when my Gps says I am doing 64. They may bump the charges up to a higher speed :-)

shannonnunley · 01-30-2004, 02:46 PM

The BMW speedometer is optimistically incorrect. I ride often with my gps and it is consistetly 10-11% off.

Didn't you ask to see the radar gun so that you could visually confirm it?

bradzdotcom · bradzdotcom's Garage

at a marked 50 MPH on the beemer, the GPS claims i'm going about 46. When the speedo needle sits at 90 MPH, the GPS claims 84.

the speedo is off, but the problem is, it's not your speedometer that is the basis of the ticket's -- it's the cop's equipment.

nine times out of ten.....you lose.

sorry.
did you know that in some states, you can take traffic school on-line?

....brad

Rapid Dog · 01-30-2004, 03:21 PM

Yep I know, and I will, probably....

JonyRR · 01-30-2004, 03:26 PM

yeah, I have encountered the same problem...my magellan mariner GPS says 65 and the bike says 60.....so much for teutonic superiority!
(and I can pick on the Germans with impunity...my family name was Von Brander before WWII)

GUS · 01-30-2004, 04:01 PM

So can the rest of europe!Funny buggers them germans.By their own admission too!
gus
PS do any off you watch faulty towers by chance?

wswartzwel · 01-30-2004, 04:48 PM

JonyRR,
I have a Magellan Meridian. Do you use any of their mapsend software?

roger albert · 01-30-2004, 05:58 PM

Real speedo data can only hurt you.
They'll never change it, but if they did, it would have to be upwards. Be careful what you wish for.

Rapid Dog · 01-30-2004, 06:40 PM

I am intending to sow that BMW motorycle speedo's are notoiously inaccurate on wishful side. I n otherwords, if I was reading 60, I was closer to 55, the speed limit. Therefore, noway was I doing 64,
Call me crazy for coconuts!

NOt sure what you mean Rog...

Joe · Joe's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by roger albert
Real speedo data can only hurt you.

You think so......

I'll be hiding the GPS

manowicki · 01-31-2004, 06:52 AM

Bummer on the ticket.... IMHO, don't try to fight it, you'll just end up pissing 'em off & WILL get the speeding ticket. You're not that much OVER, so go in to court w/ your head in your hands & APOLOGIZE w/ sincerity. They will usually knock it down to a defective headlight or something w/ a small fine. No big deal for you or your Ins Co. Works every time in my experience.

The absolute best way to deal w/ the cops is not to. Think of the future, think Valentine1. There some companies offering wireless hookup & wireless connection to your helmet speakers. I always hardwired w/o much trouble. Get intimate w/ the V1 & know what it can & can't do & it will end your speeding ticket troubles.

Mikey

markjenn · 01-31-2004, 08:37 AM

The inaccurate speedo defense isn't going to fly - the courts hear it all the time. You're responsible for the accuracy of your speedo anyway and it has been documented pretty conclusively that the S speedo doesn't read low, it reads high. If you do want to use this defense, then the only admissible evidence is a copy of a test by a instrument shop showing YOUR speedo was inaccurate.

If you really want out of a ticket, get a lawyer who specializes in ticket defense. It will cost you $300 or so, but you'll almost surely get off.

Or you can contest it, get a court date, and then go in. Probably the best layman's defense is to simply say that you were monitoring your speed and you weren't speeding. If you can find any other inaccuracies on the ticket (missing time of day, weather, whatever) that calls the officer's attention to detail into question that bolsters the idea that the officer simply screwed up.

Forget the idea of saying you were doing 60. They'll say, "Thank you very much, you've just admitted you were speeding. You're now charged with 60 in a 55, pay the clerk on the way out." Since most tickets are the same for 0-9 over, it won't have much effect. If you admit in court to 1 mph over you'll likely stiff get the ticket.

It is a fallacy that a layman going in an contesting a ticket has much likelihood of getting out of the ticket - you may get it reduced a bit, but the court processes thousands of these things and they've seen it all.

The only reasonably sure way of getting out of a ticket is to use a lawyer who knows the precise weaknesses in the system at any particular court or jurisdiction, and doesn't do stupid thing like admit to the crime in court.

- Mark

Bails · Bails's Garage

Well I can speak from my Australian experience re Speeding. Saying the speedo isn't right won't work, that is not reasonable doubt as to weather or not you were speeding. The only issue is was the Police reading correct ! Is there resonable doubt that he was incorrect or that the measureing device could have made a mistake. This argument can always succeed if you have somone well versed in the radar types and there operation,there is always something that can make them give a false reading,if this could have been present then you can get off. I just recently went to court over getting a ticket with two bikes side by side,it's a long story cost me heaps,and I only got a 50% result. I was able to get the radar speed chucked out . If US law is like our you are innocent untill proved guilty! It is the Police that have to prove their radar was absolutely right at the time,very hard to do.