Friday, July 18, 2008

Beating a speeding ticket with GPS:
Shaun Malone, was able to successfully contest a speeding ticket in court using the data from a GPS device installed in his car.

...While the police clocked him going 62-mph, the GPS's data in fact showed him driving at the 45-mph speed limit.

...[W]hen he took the stand to begin his testimony, Dr. Heppe corrected that written report, saying that the Rocky Mountain Tracking device was "very" accurate, to within a couple of meters on location and to within 1 mph on speed. Dr. Heppe also pointed out that the GPS device released instantaneous data, and not data averaged over a distance."

Needless to say, with Dr. Heppe's revised testimony, Malone was found innocent of speeding.
The article also notes that this is not the usual "make-a-left-turn-100-feet-ahead-onto-Maple-Street GPS", but a more advanced vehicle tracking GPS system.

(Via /. and Ars Technica.)