Page 14 THE BATTALION
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1980
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"DOWNTOWN BRYAN"
Features
Drivers fighting speeding tickets
Police radar use ‘grossly unfair and inaccurate, they say
United Press International
NEW YORK — The anti-radar
bugs are starting to scent ultimate
victory in their warfare with speed-
cops on the nation’s highways.
They are out to prove that even
the most up-to-date police radar de-
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vices are not capable of properly
identifying a speeding automobile in
traffic and therefore radar evidence
no longer should be admissible in
court.
At stake are millions of dollars in
fines collected from speeders on the
basis of radar evidence and millions
of dollars worth of sales of radar
equipment to state and local police,
many of the orders subsidized by the
Federal Department of Transporta
tion.
Also at stake is the national 55-
mph speed limit initiated as a motor
fuel conservation measure, but
which still arouses bitter controver
sy, particularly in the trucking in
dustry.
The anti-radar bugs have three
motives. Some just don’t believe in
the 55-mph speed limit and think
that without police radar it couldn’t
exist. Others, like an official of
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. who
complained about his personal ex
perience with police radar in New
Jersey, say it is grossly unfair and
inaccurate.
He told reporters a police radar
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gun overestimated the speed at
which he was traveling by more than
10 miles an hour. He is convinced
the radar reading came from another
car and the cop was unsure which car
it came from. To fight the case, he
said, would have cost him up to
$10,000 in legal and research fees.
A reporter recalled a personal ex
perience of this kind in Maryland.
The reporter said he was driving at
above 70 mph when a cop aimed a
“Don’t believe it when the
judge and the cops and the
radar manufacturers tell
you radar always picks up
the front car in a line of
traffic. ” Car and Driver
made road tests and found
that the signal actually may
bounce back from a truck
or larger car behind the
lead car.
-f
radar gun at his car. But instead of
stopping his car, the police mis
takenly stopped a car driven by a
woman, who, the reporter said,
appeared to he doing only about 50
mph.
The matter has boiled up in the
past two years since the federal De
partment of Transportation began
subsidizing the purchase of police
radar devices. Several companies
make these. The most important
appear to be Kustom Signals, Inc., of
Shawnee Mission, Kan., and MPH
Industries of Canute, Kan. The
police radar devices sell for from
around $400 to just under $3,000.
The states that use them may order
them in batches of several hundred.
So far, a national motor fan maga
zine, Car and Driver, published at
Ann Arbor, Mich., has been carrying
the ball in the anti-radar campaign.
The third motive for opposing
police radar is that of lawyers and
some judges who say the radar
speedtrap violates the search and se
izure provisions of the constitution
per se.
Patrick Bedard, the Car and Driv 7
er writer who has written most of the
articles, said he discovered cops are
commonly poached by their super
iors to testify that they suspected the
ticketed car of speeding before aim
ing the radar gun at it. Otherwise,
the judge might throw the case out
on the grounds of entrapment.
But Bedard said the com nib n cir
cumstance is that the car is caught by
a hidden radar device as it comes
over a hill or around a curve so there
can be little doubt that there is en
trapment.
Lt. Joseph Kobus of the New
Jersey State Police said that in a test
case, the New Jersey Supreme Court
ruled radar evidence valid provided
it was shown in the trial that the
officer using it had been thoroughly
trained in its use and in the legal
limitations on its use.
Mike Knepper, executive editor of
Car and Driver, said Car and Driv
er’s campaign got a huge public re
sponse but he conceded that outlaw
ing the use of police radar evidence
against speeders probably would
have to result from action by con-
sumerists and civil rights groups. Be
dard’s articles said the makers of the
radar had spent considerable sums
defending their reliability in the
courts.
Sandra Hartley, legal counsel for
Kustom Electronics, parent firm of
Kustom Signals, conceded that many
motorists ticketed on the basis of
radar evidence claimed the device
had misidentified their ears. She also
said Kustom has provided expert
witness to the police at times to back
up radar evidence. Efforts to talk
with other Kustom Electronics offi
cials were not successful.
In an October, 1979, article in Car
and Driver, Bedard made two main
charges, that “all cars are not created
equal under radar,” and that “radar
doesn’t point a finger at any particu
lar car. ” That, the article contended,
makes radar’s admissibility as evi
dence dubious but Bedard said that
radar can he reliable in catching
speeders when it is used under per
fect conditions — and not in heavy
traffic, as usually is the case.
In this and subsequent articles,
Car and Driver made the following
additional points against police radar
for catching speeders:
— A dishonest or malevolent
policeman can lie about what car he
was pointing the radar device at. But
it was conceded that this is a very
minor problem.
— “Don t believe it when the
judge and the cops and the radar
manufacturers tell you radar always
picks up the front car in a line of
traffic.” Car and Driver made road
tests and found that the signal actual-
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R
ly may bounce backfroni!^
larger car behind the lead*
cops will mistakenly stop®J|
the lead car which may bet
at legal speed.
— A ear with a low silktti
the Chevrolet Corvetteua)
under the radar signal, Fw|
point of view, this makestlt!
discriminatory and
.stitutional.
— Police radar devicesaiti
to all sorts of interference
make them highly unreliable!
can be interference from a
fan or some other movingon
al part in the police cargl
another car or from the
Police radio and even cifa
radio can throw the radaroiliiij
and make it show higher
than the targeted vehicles
are moving, the articles ml
An article last Februanss
real r apper on the matter is i
that police radar can be dele
jammed and distortedby«
and made inaccurate and b
reliable as legal evidence.ii
it is against the law to makels». ene
to jam police radar, severil;, v
panics do manufacture and
Ah, a
ired sp
This
rxciteir
We/
om th
to the f
We v
eal car
iason :
mly los
alf) an
field go
My n
ould h
hedul
In the [
Then
play, hi
Jame ar
Player t
The i
semeste
jammers.
Through a quirk in the law
illegal to sell kits to makeradr
mers although it is illegal to®
Police radar device!
subject to all sorts oik
ference which can ij
them highly unrein
There can be interfei
from a defroster h
some other movingod
trical part in the polict
or from the roadside,
in the 1
iairmar
Soccer t
| The i
toward
Baylor ii
highest
nou-con
In otl
Tenni
for the v
pwenn
Jrofessii
Head C
women’:
The n
joelson
Semeste
ly, Bria
Nationa
will be 1
And tl
the kit and put the devicetowi l a f occ
your car. It’s also expensiw l ere 15
need severaljammersatanwll ma J or V1
each to he successful at it aadi ILookii
get caught, you’re in real t» |P? rt ^
knepper and Bedardsiid |lhe rr
mere fact that it is possibletojn y® ar ’
radar and that the police can bn l e 1981
w ay of knowing if there isajuRP^rt S
somewhere around “couldpm
end of the arch-enemy ofspee*
Accountant!
morehelph
than though
mg recer
Billy Car
The n;
the cour
things al
Track;
| sterling
champio
and SW<
Thewi
will also
So, all
it.
The B:
b more inf
and
United Press Internationil
NEW YORK
payers, and businessmen,
into financial traps becaart Sports ca:
know so little about taiei (owofi
accounting, says a Boston(M
Public Accountant
M ichael Tulman says nMjf||
persons need the services
accountant than realize itJ
heating the drum for his Irak
course, but Tulman doesmaktjj
interesting points.
For instance: J
Most taxpayers know to
take a once-in-a-lifetime m
capital gain of up to $100,(!fi
sell their home afterreachljj
Many don’t realize, Tobis
that if they have used
house for business
of its upkeep, then tax nuisttK
on the capital gain in the si
ortion as the percentage dedr
The remainder is tax free.
Conversely, many persons I
know you can rent out a W*
home for up to 15 days a year w
declaring the income fortes
man said.
If you rent out yourprki|)J !
dence for more than a year and'
sell it, Tulman said, the IK 1
decide the house is an invest
property and deny you the tad
ral normally allowed those i
another house within ISmoird
minimize or avoid capital gait
Traps for businessmen are I
numerous and more
accountant will try to keepatro'-'
businessman from letting If-
pressure him to dump goods#
oft debt. Instead the account# 1
try to stretch out the loans.
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