#19922
Anonymous

    @Whale said:

    How is this (speed) measured, how can this be realistically judged?

    A – It can’t be

    Actually it can.
    You measure a fixed distance and you time the vehicle through the fixed distance using a stop watch. Average velocity through the sector, in metres per second, will be the distance, in metres, divided by the time, in seconds. It is easy enough to then convert to km/h if that is your preferred units.
    You then determine the error in the calculation by using a basic high school level error formula from any good physics website. The error is calculated by using the distances you missed starting and stopping the stop watch by (which will be a metre at the most) and the time you took to start / stop the stopwatch which will be about 0.25 seconds each time.

    It is the type of thing many high school kids did/still do as a field experiment in physics. Measure two observables, determine the error and produce data.

    I do it in my SP where we have a 20km/h speed by-law. I sometimes report vehicles who are traveling over 30km/h and given the error on the measurement is only +/- 1.5km/h then without doubt these people are speeding. The EC has repeatedly refused to actin any complaint.

    Actually clocked a guy on a push bike doing over 30km/h, the current record is over 45km/h, the worst offenders are those who champion keeping the by-law and the by-laws do not apply to visitors.

    If you liked science at high school you can get fancy and use lasers, mirrors and timing gates but that is for those who love a good physics experiment.
    If science was something that sent you to sleep at high school then there are other options. You can buy a speed gun (Bushnell) for about $150 on that auction website and it has an accuracy of +/- a few km/h.

    Does the speed gun need to be calibrated like a police speed gun? The level of required proof is “on the balance of probabilities”. So if you have a 10km/h speed limit and a speed gun with an error of a few km/h and you are recording people above 20kh/m then on the balance of probabilities these people are speeding.
    Even a police sped gun has an error margin, but it is quite small.

    Speeding by-laws are nothing but trouble as you will find owners do not like having their activity monitored even if they are breaking a by-law they put in place.