[Inchindown]

I decided to try to find out how accurate the speedo is on the Antara.
There is a speed warning sign not far from me where it tells you if you have gone over the speed limit. I already knew you had to be doing more than 60 for the sign to flash its warning, but I wanted to know exactly how fast you could be going according to the Antara speed before the sign was activated.

So I got out my portable SatNav, which includes a current speed display, and drove passed the sign doing 60 according to the Speedo. At this point the SatNav was jumping between 56 and 57.

Next I drove passed the sign and set the cruise control when the speed was showing 60 on the SatNav, and this time the speedo was indicating just a bit less than 65. So these 2 readings match each other with the actual speed of the car being about 3 or 4 mph less than the the Speedo was displaying. The sign did not indicate I was speeding.

I made one more run passed the sign with the speed set to 63 according to the SatNav, and this time the sign flashed me to slow down

As a second verification of these figures I checked the speed indicator from my in-carvideo camera, which is also GPS enabled,and it matched exactly the speed indicated by the portable SatNav.

I can say I was not particularly surprised by these figures as most, if not all, ofthe cars I've had have shown a similar discrepancy between the real speed and the speed indicated by the speedo.

So the question now is, will I push the speedo that bit further round the dial, or will I still set it exactly on the 60 mark? Perhaps our ex/police members could comment on the calibrated speed of police speed traps and whether they are likely to be nearer to the GPS speed or the speedo speed.


Edited by: Inchindown

 

[wilma08]

How many times did you go past the sign Three

hope no one saw you

cause if i done that up here they would think i was mad

as theyalreadydo

 

[Dilligaf]

From a lorry drivers point of view, I would say that no standard vehicle's speedometer is accurate not even the police cars.
Police vehicles will have an extra speedometer which would have to be recalibrated at regular intervals.
As a hgv (lgv) driver our lorries run on tachographs and these have to be calibrated by law every 2 years.
It's my belief that car speedos will always under estimate your speed.

 

[Antarius]

Hi Inchindown, for the very reasons that you have highlighted, the "Police" allow the benefit of the doubt to the driver to the tune of 10%

In other words, 33 mph in a 30 mph, 44 in a 40, 55 in a 50, 66 in a 60 and yes, you've got it

77 mph in a 70 limit.


Each of the handheld speed guns are calibrated every Sunday, the figures are recorded and are used as a base for any future drivers caught in a trap. If a driver of drivers are caught on any day, the Officers involved will re-calibrate the gun to check if the gun is still showing the figures from the "Sunday" base figure. If this new calibration figure is showing that the gun is for example 2% out, then the speed of the offending driver is recalculated minus that 2%.


Some traffic cars have built in speed analysis units and these too are routinely calibrated using the Ministry of Transport.


Once in my career, I actually charged a driver for speeding when he sped past me in an unmarked police car on Wishaw Main Street. I followed this guy for nearly three miles as he drove towards Motherwell and clocked his speed at more than 60mph using the police vehicle's speedometer.


In these circumstances, the police driver needs to attain the same speed as the driver and this is done by distance, in other words the gap between the two cars is constant over a few hundred yards and when that happens, the officer in the passenger's seat needs to see the speed shown on the speedometer.


Once that is done, the driver can be pulled by a marked unit and dealt with accordingly. This vchap decided to be a smart ass and told me that there was nothing that I could do as I couldn't prove what speed he was doing.


Oh Yeah !!!!


I called in to Motherwell Police Office where the Traffic Dept was based and arranged for the marked Traffic car with the onboard speed analyzer to calibrate the speedometer on the unmarked police car.


I was followed up onto the motorway where I accelerated to the speed that mirrored the speed of the guy earlier and which was the same as the speed noted by the corroborating officer and once that was attained, the marked police car would follow and by driving fairly close to the rear, the speed analyzer showed the correct mph that the unmarked police car was travelling at and ultimately the "speeder" in town earlier.


I went back a few days later and charged the young buck with speeding and had great pleasure in telling him that he was doing 64 mph. Due to his speed in a built up area, I also charged him with reckless driving and at his trial that later ensued,he was found guilty, disqualified for 12 months and fined £256 (4 x 64mph).


Sorted!!!!

 

[wilma08]

So he was Police to

as it was an unmarked car, if so good for you, I to in the past when i could not find a job within Mental Health when i firstqualified went and work within Mental Handicapped and seen things i did not agree with for instance treatment of some of theresidentsand reported them the line manager then Management of course this did not go down well and when i required help when getting attacked with a resident in the dorm no one came, although i know they herd me shout at the time as i was not given an alarm that day, I was informed that two were away for repair.If i were still in nursing, i would still do the same when something is not right and a client is not getting treated with respect or treated the way you would want treated or your family treated then someone has to stand up and say something

 

[Antarius]

Wilma, my wife works as a "Locality Link" Officer with the Social Work Department (North Lanarkshire) and her remit is address the lack of support for "older people" as a result of the cut backs in council services.

Although she does deal with people suffering from Mental Health issues, she is fortunate enough not to be dealing with those who are really troubled. The one thing that comes out from each of the older people, whether they are mentally ill or not, is their wish to be treated with respect and perhaps even more importantly, listened too.


All too often in the past, these people were catergorized into a definitive section of our community based on the perceptions of other people and without any input by those who's lives were changed forever because of it.


It now seems that because of these cut backs and the introduction of these Locality Link Officers, older people are now asked their thoughts and opinions on situations or recommendations and because of that, both physical and verbal assaults are at an all time low.


There has been a working party set up to report back on how and why this has happened with they have been tasked with implementing those practices across the broad spectrum of council services and not just in social work.


Just for the record, I am not for a second suggesting that the problems associated with the Mental Health workers is due to them not giving "respect" too or listening too those people but I am merely trying to show how practices are changing in some areas.

 

[Inchindown]

How many times did you go past the sign Three

hope no one saw you

cause if i done that up here they would think i was mad

as theyalreadydo

That's right, I went passed the speed sign 3 times.

Not likely anyone would see me going round in circles though, as the A9 up here is almost deserted in the mid-morning period.

 

[Inchindown]

Hi Inchindown, for the very reasons that you have highlighted, the "Police" allow the benefit of the doubt to the driver to the tune of 10%

In other words, 33 mph in a 30 mph, 44 in a 40, 55 in a 50, 66 in a 60 and yes, you've got it

77 mph in a 70 limit.


Each of the handheld speed guns are calibrated every Sunday, the figures are recorded and are used as a base for any future drivers caught in a trap. If a driver of drivers are caught on any day, the Officers involved will re-calibrate the gun to check if the gun is still showing the figures from the "Sunday" base figure. If this new calibration figure is showing that the gun is for example 2% out, then the speed of the offending driver is recalculated minus that 2%.


Some traffic cars have built in speed analysis units and these too are routinely calibrated using the Ministry of Transport.

----- snip -------

I thought it would be likely there was some leeway in the speed at which you would be charged.

It would be easier to keep to a specific speed if the Antara had a digital display of the speed when you have cruise control on. I had that on my Volvo and was much more convenient than trying to eyeball the speedo.

When you say the second officer in the car needed to see the speed reading, does that mean a single on duty officer can not give a speeding ticket? When I got my one and only ticket back in the 70s, I got caught by a single motor bike cop. I often wondered what would have happened if I had taken it to court rather than pleading guilty by letter.