Pacing Speeding - Motor Vehicles
Police Officers can use pacing vehicles as a way of measuring the speed of another motor vehicle and enforcing the speed limits.
The officer follows the speeding vehicle using the police car to measure the speed of the offender. The officer uses his speed to match the speed of the other vehicle and when his speed is consistent he checks his speedometer and notes the speed.
The court of Appeal R. v. Bland has held that if evidence is given that a mechanical device, such as a watch or a speedometer, recorded a particular time or speed which is the purpose of that instrument to record, that can by itself be prima facie evidence, which is evidence on which a court can act upon (convict) of that speed if no evidence is brought out as to the accuracy of the device.
If the speed clocked is greatly excessive of the maximum allowed the court would probably convict even in the absence of tests as to the accuracy, but it might not if only small differences were involved.
This means that if the officer gives evidence that over a measured distance his speedometer recorded steadily the speed alleged, this is prima facie (evidence that if undisputed would allow the court to enter a conviction) evidence which is sufficient to establish the fact of speeding unless rebutted, that the defendant was driving at that speed. In the absence of some evidence, elicited either on cross-examination or by defense witnesses, that would suggest that the police speedometer was inaccurate, this is enough to convict.
In all of these cases, it is the prosecutions obligation to prove to the court that the speed-measuring device what ever it may have been was in proper working order, was tested and gave a reliable reading of the speed. |
