Bikers cleared in speed test case

[BaZa®]

Bikers cleared in speed test case

Published Date: 10 September 2009



TWO bikers have been dramatically cleared in a test case which may affect the way local police try to catch speeders.

The pair were accused of riding their powerful machines at an average minimum speed of 88.62mph as they entered a speed trap on the A68.

Lothian and Borders is thought to be the only police force in the country which clocks two vehicles travelling together on the one capture of a Provida speed camera.

Colin Jameson, 43, and Andrew Bones, 40, both from County Durham were heading to a motorcycle festival in Kelso on July 13 last year when they were accused of speeding at the Hass, near the Carter Bar.

Both bikers, who are refridgeration engineers and need their licences for their jobs, claimed they were under the 60mph speed limit for that stretch of the road.

Jameson stood trial at Jedburgh Justice of the Peace Court but was found not guilty after defence lawyer Maureen Sinclair successfully argued the practice of calculating the average speed was unsafe.

With the aid of a road traffic expert she also challenged the siting of the police trap saying the officers view of the road from where they were sitting was obscured by trees.

She explained: “In a speed trap the vehicles must remain in sight at all times.”

Miss Sinclair pointed out that the officers temporarily lost sight of the vehicles once it entered the white markings of the speed trap and could not say whether they had slowed down or accelerated.

She said the police had no idea which motorcycle had entered the trap first or left it making no allowances for them changing places.

JP Philip Murray said the accused may have been speeding and probably was but had to make a judgement on the evidence before him.

He explained: “To take an average speed to a court is not good enough.”

Mr Murray said the calculation of the “one in and one out” operation of the speed trap created a doubt in his mind and found Jameson not guilty after a four-hour trial.

Immediately afterwards Bones appeared in the dock on the same charge and the case was dropped by the Crown.

Kenneth Cowell, a private consultant road traffic expert and a former traffic police officer, told the court he had visited the scene of the speed trap last month.

He challenged the way Lothian and Borders officers calculated an average speed if two vehicles were caught on the same camera saying: “I have never heard of it before.”

Mr Cowell said he did not know of any other police forces who used the method.

He added: “The machine is not designed to work out average speed of multiple vehicles. It is designed to work out the speed of one vehicle.”

He told the court he had visited the scene where the 0.43 of a mile trap was and could not see the white lines of the road where the speed trap was to operate from and added that at one stage the vehicles would disappear from view which was not accepted practice.
Mr Cowell said he had no idea how the 88.62mph speed was worked out but said it was not a correct speed.

Lothian and Borders Police were not available for comment at the time of going to press.

[Beefy]

does anyone have the number of this Maureen Sinclair??
she could be handy at a later date