I have a theory and it might just save someone (or a lot of someones) some money.
Licensed cars have number plates to identify them.. and these things are regularly photographed by police to prosecute speeding motorists.. and the 'if-you've-done-nothing-wrong-you-have-nothing-to-fear' crowd like this. It makes them feel good to know people around them are controlled.
But before I go on, I should clarify the term 'speeding' - see a reasonable person would thing that meant going faster than the posted speed limit. Well, those are the ones the police speed trap cameras photograph for sure.. and the numbers of people prosecuted for speeding certainly seem high enough to warrant cracking down on them, but you really need to know what the term speeding means I mean think about it - what sort of accidents cause fatalities and crashes and how do you classify them? Here in Oz, if you jacknife a truck that is classified as a speed related accident. Similarly if you're driving slowly at 20kph in a 60kph zone and it's foggy and some clod drives into you or you hit someone - speeding. Sun got you in the eye? that used to be called an situational accident, now it's speeding.
So wow, look at all the speeding accidents! However if you break down the stats it turns out less than 10% of accidents actually involve people exceeding the posted speed limit.
Now those speed cameras - I've been having some fun with those things.. here in Perth around some roadworks they have giant flashy signs that measure how fast you're going and to let you know how you're doing relative to the posted temporary speed limits. It might be 60, maybe 40.. but it does amuse me a lot when I crawl through them at 5kph and the sign screams 'GOOD JOB!' at me. Really? it used to be that going a certain speed *under* the speed limit was also illegal (I can't be bothered researching it today.. it's too hot) Turns out speed cameras don't actually catch the inebriated knobs crawling through traffic, only those doing 31 in 30 zones.. you know - speeders.
Driving on the sidewalk? Veering about all over the road, watching a DVD as you drive along, 16 people in a 4 seater car - speed cameras do nothing. In fact you may well see an angry loon flatfooting it at 140 in a 60 zone and even if the camera nabs them, it does nothing to prevent them cresting the hill a kilometre away and cleaning up a school bus full of kids.
Not like a police car with a genuine policeman inside could.
I also have a problem with the accuracy of these things and the lack of leeway granted to drivers. A penalty for doing 31 in a 30 zone seems unreasonable to me. Under the law as it stood, all measuring devices that are used to price things are supposed to be checked by a government department which requires the devices be calibrated annually . One nice man who worked for such a department challenged the police in court once only to find none of the speed cameras had ever been checked or calibrated. Needless to say had his defence been accepted millions in fines would have had to be repaid to people as the accuracy of the speed measuring devices was unconfirmed. Also needless to say, the law was hastily changed such that speed cameras were no longer required to be calibrated.. and this was made retrospective - no fines to be repaid, no defence. Happy government departments..
Then there's all those cars with mildly inaccurate speedometers. How the heck can I know what speed I'm actually doing? Worse for some.. I have a '71 Plymouth Fury with a speedo in miles per hour, with vague lines indicating verrrry roughly what velocity I am travelling.
Anyhoo, back to the license plates. Should a real life policeman stop you their job would be to inspect your car to confirm it was licensed to be on the road, they would check the plate, the registration sticker and your license.
Nowdays we have no registration sticker because sometimes it was too hard for the government department who issued them to do things like send the reminders to people on time, or send out the actual stickers.. and apparently it cost them money. It's hard for me to imagine that of the thousands of dollars a year they get from me in registration fees that 4 stickers could bite into their budgets so badly but that's where we are.
So the policeman stops the car, confirms you are driving and checks your license plate and your licence and having verified they are legitimate he proceeds to caution you, write you a ticket or impound your vehicle and throw you in a paddywagon.
Instead here we are today with automated speed cameras and other photographic cash registers like toll road plate readers - they photograph your plate and send you the registered owner a bill.
But..
who's to say that plate is real? No one checked it.
So crafty little McVillain has an idea one day.. you can try it yourself.. find a couple of cars the same colour and model as your own. Photograph them. Go home and fire up your colour laser printed and run off a few license plate sized prints, glue them to some stiff card and Blue-tak them over your existing plate.
You can now drive around accruing speeding fines and toll fees without paying a cent ! Oh dammit, this in NOT actually what I'm suggesting you do - please do not do this. Except the bit where I suggest you photograph a handful of cars the same make, model and colour as your car... do this. What I'm suggesting is if you do get knobbled for speeding you present this idea to the local magistrate when you defend yourself against a fine, armed with pictures of cars like yours.
The onus is on the prosecution to prove you are guilty. Beyond doubt.
When you front court, show them it's entirely possible for anyone to do what I describe. Show them how easy it is.. and explain to them that NO authorized officer actually inspected the license plate at the time the alleged crime was caught on camera! Here Mr Magistratum.. here's pictures of 6 cars like mine, any one of them could have a laser printout of my plate stuck over their plate. No one checked, your Majesty.. No sworn officer even sited my plate, all you have is a photograph of a car. A photograph of a license plate.
A photograph of a license plate is no more an actual number plate than is a laser print of a number plate.
You are not alleging anything, you're certainly not making a statement to the court.. you are merely politely asking who inspected the license plate to confirm it was indeed a license plate (your license plate) and not a copy.. given it's so easy to fake a plate. Do not lie, do not say it wasn't you - just ask them who inspected the plate, and show them pictures of a few cars like yours and some printouts of fake plates.
You do not want to be making statements or alleging things because that's a complication - remember, it is the court alleging that they caught you speeding.. and they have to prove it. With no one actually inspecting the plate, they have no proof.
If we were all to do this then one day we may get one reasonable magistrate who actually decides to acknowledge the frailty of the law and rules the photo fine in the case in front of him is invalid, then a precedent will be set for other defenders. A handful of successful defence cases and a challenge could be made to eliminate speed camera fines. Then mebbe we can finally be rid of the scourge of road side revenue devices and we may even get real police back on the road, stopping real speeders and making the roads a bit safer - for real.
Anyway that's my theory. Want to help me test it?
Spread the word.
1:13 p.m. - 2016-01-17
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