(Newswire.net — October 2, 2015) — Salt Lake City, Utah — When a police officer pulls your vehicle over for speeding you can’t often dispute the speed indicated on the speed gun measuring device. However, does this mean that you are actually break the speed limit? Sometimes the answer is no. Such devices don’t usually record the distance at which it measured your speed. Laser based speed guns can measure speeds at great distances, so even if the deviced accurately records you speed, it doesn’t necessarily mean you were driving over allowed speed for any specific area.
Imagine this scenerio, you are traveling at the posted 65 mph speed limit, but approaching a zone where the posted speed limit is 35 mph. Now imagine that a traffic enforcement officer is standing inside the 35 mph zone, but measuring your speed before you get to the 35 mph zone. You may actually be obeying the law by driving at 65, but be subject to a fine because your speed was measured by an officer recording that speed while he was located in a 35 mph zone. That is commonly known as a speed trap.
One motorist, who happened to be a lawmaker, claims he was nabed just in such speed trap. KSL reported that Rep. Jacob Anderegg, R-Lehi, said Tuesday he is considering sponsoring a measure that would require officers to note where they are in relation to speed signs.
“With their [speed] gun — when they shoot it — they should be able to say ‘this is the distance of the vehicle when it was speeding at this time,” Anderegg explained.
In addition, Anderegg was also was considering blocking cities and counties from using speeding ticket revenue in general funds.
“[It’s] so that there isn’t the incentive for law enforcement officers to bend the rules,” Anderegg said.
Before he runs a new bill in the legislature, Anderegg said he need first to discuss it with the police because only new models can measure and display distances, while the older version can’t.
Anderegg was cited earlier in the year in an area of Utah County close to a speed zone change. According to the citation he was driving 71 in a 35 mile-per-hour zone. After losing his fight in court over the citation he was issued in what he terms to be a “speed trap”, he paid the ticket.
“It’s a citizen’s word versus the law enforcement, and how can I prove it in a court of law?” Anderegg said.
According to Anderegg, the police measured the speed of his vehicle before he entered the 35 mph speed limit zone.
“The cop was sitting right there about a hundred feet beyond that [sign], shooting into the 65-mile-an-hour zone and tagging people, saying ‘you’re speeding’ in a 35-mile-an-hour zone,” Anderegg said. “I couldn’t prove where he was when my speed was measured, because I don’t have a dash cam.”
According to Anderegg, he subsequently heard complains about the same situation from drivers who claimed they had similar experiences in other parts of the country, which he considers to be grounds for the legislation intervention.