Minnesota trooper writes 205 mph ticket

[Super_Cub_2414P]

Can't resist the urge to OPEN it up

http://www.yahoo.com/_ylh=X3oDMTB1M2EzYWFoBF9TAzI3MTYxNDkEdGVzdAMwBHRtcGwDaWUtYmV0YQ--/s/213057

 

[pilotman2105]

I heard one of the the helicopter pilot/troopers for the Minnesota State Patrol speak to a club that I was a member of. Interesting stuff that they do.

Don't speed in Minnesota when these guys are around. They'll find you.

 

[Swass]

Check the non aviation forum, there's a long post on this.

 

[Super_Cub_2414P]

I heard one of the the helicopter pilot/troopers for the Minnesota State Patrol speak to a club that I was a member of. Interesting stuff that they do.

Don't speed in Minnesota when these guys are around. They'll find you.

I got ticked by a CHiP in a Cessna for doin 90 coasting downhill on 8 into El Cajon in '94, they're everywhere.

 

[Super_Cub_2414P]

Check the non aviation forum, there's a long post on this.

I just figured anything that goes faster than 200 is aviation related.

 

[AA717driver]

What's a Stinger go for on the street? TC

 

[FN FAL]

I just figured anything that goes faster than 200 is aviation related.

hoss, he isn't telling you it's not aviation related...he's just telling you to check it out that there already a thread on this somewhere else.

And this is aviation related...they clocked the guy with a helicopter...can't get anymore aviation related than that?

 

[Philso]

>> He clicked it once when the motorcycle reached a white marker on the road and again a quarter-mile later
So the trooper was directly overhead the white marker then when he clicked on his stop watch ? Otherwise I would have to question the accuracy of such a method of recording speed on the ground. What high was the aircraft, what speed was the aircraft going, was it flying in the same direction of travel as the motorcycle ?

 

[amaineiac]

>> He clicked it once when the motorcycle reached a white marker on the road and again a quarter-mile later
So the trooper was directly overhead the white marker then when he clicked on his stop watch ? Otherwise I would have to question the accuracy of such a method of recording speed on the ground. What high was the aircraft, what speed was the aircraft going, was it flying in the same direction of travel as the motorcycle ?

Tell it to the judge. I'm sure he's heard it all before and I'll bet ya anything the last word out of his mouth will be GUILTY.

 

[Airpiraterob]

you missed the method entirely....

see those white dashes sideways in your lane when youre drivin on the highway? and then you run over another one a little later on? those are the markers. they are a fixed set distance. timing the rate one passes between them makes an easy to determine speed. regardless of your height above ground and where you are...if you can see them from anywhere...you can time the vehicle.

 

[minitour]

you missed the method entirely....

see those white dashes sideways in your lane when youre drivin on the highway? and then you run over another one a little later on? those are the markers. they are a fixed set distance. timing the rate one passes between them makes an easy to determine speed. regardless of your height above ground and where you are...if you can see them from anywhere...you can time the vehicle.

I think he's talking about the "error" with the angle of view...

...kind of like line of sight with satellites or maybe more relevant slant range error with DME...you know...if you're angle is weird maybe your perception on the point where he crossed the line is weird...

...im sure someone somewhere could make a case if they were clocked a LITTLE over the speed limit...but at 200+ mph....the guy running the stopwatch would have to be having a seisure to have stopped it early enough to make a difference...

-mini

 

[TonyC]

I think he's talking about the "error" with the angle of view...

...kind of like line of sight with satellites or maybe more relevant slant range error with DME...you know...if you're angle is weird maybe your perception on the point where he crossed the line is weird...

...im sure someone somewhere could make a case if they were clocked a LITTLE over the speed limit...but at 200+ mph....the guy running the stopwatch would have to be having a seisure to have stopped it early enough to make a difference...

-mini

I think he's referring to parallax error, the error that occurs from viewing the target and the guage from an angle when the target and the guage are offset. Read a conventional car speedometer from straight ahead (the driver's seat) and the speedometer reads 65. Read the same speedometer from the passenger seat and it read 58 (for example).

Parallax error is only a problem when the target (in this case the motorcycle) and the guage (the white line) are offset, or seperated some distance from one another. Since the motorcyle passes directly over the marks, there is no distance, and therefore no parallax error.

Since the stop/start times were triggered by a thumb, and not an electronic sensor of any sort, the angle is insignificant.

EDIT:

The method is quite simple, by the way. You can work through the algebra if you like, but it boils down to this. For a quarter mile (as specified in this case) one should divide 900 by the number of seconds it takes to travel the distance.

900 / 4.39 = 205.01, so 205 mph

Mess up the timing by a whole second ( 900 / 5.39 = 166.98, so 167 mph) and you still have a hefty ticket. Mess it up by a whole second on either end, (900 / 6.39 = 140.85, so 141 mph) and the guy's still twice the speed limit and he's still goin' to jail. I think the judge will allow it.