Differences in radar speed detection calibration across the country are raising some doubts about the validity of the process, says a report by CBC.
According to the CBC, the OPP and the Regina Police Service have both indicated they no longer test their radar speed detection equipment for proper tuning at the start of each shift. In the past, those departments used a tuning fork to determine if the device was still accurate; other departments across Canada still continue that practice, including RCMP detachments and the Sûreté du Quebec.
Originally, the manuals for Decatur Electronics, a manufacturer of the equipment for the OPP, asked officers to test their equipment with a tuning fork; the vibration of the fork mimicked the vibration of a car in motion, and allowed officers to ensure their radar guns had accurate readings.
The CBC says a former OPP speeding specialist now says that’s changed. He said that came partly because officers were saying court they had tested the equipment at the start of their shift, before issuing tickets — but sometimes they hadn’t. The manufacturer decided the test wasn’t necessary anyway, and stopped including it in the manuals after saying it wasn’t legally necessary in Canada, he said.
Along with the troubling idea of traffic cops lying in court, CBC’s discoveries raise some other interesting questions. Why does the RCMP think it necessary to calibrate their equipment, and the OPP doesn’t? How often does this equipment actually require recalibration? Have people been falsely convicted of speeding, and if so, how many?
CBC says Decatur Electronics did not provide them with a copy of the manual used by Canadian police departments. Check here for the rest of CBC’s story, including some quotes from experts on traffic duty who think the move to abandoning the tuning fork test is a mistake.
The use of a tuning fork is an external test to confirm or refute the accuracy of the radar unit. It is not used to calibrate but to check the calibration. The radar is a precision testing instrument. How robust or delicate these units are is part of the question and the reason for the external test in the first place. Can the internal self test mode be depended on if the unit is faulty and what prevents the internal self test circuitry from being faulty? My understanding is the tuning fork is to be used before the first ticket is issued in the work shift and after the last ticket of the shift is issued. Knowing the radar unit is working properly at the beginning of the shift, end of the shift and probably through the duration of the shift is in the best interest of all involved. It may be inconvenient to use the tuning fork but it will either validate the tickets issued during the shift or dictate the faulty unit be sent out for repair rather than waste the day issuing invalid tickets.
I have argued this for years
Well, let me straighten some shit out. First off, this is so stunned it’s painful: “…the vibration of the fork mimicked the vibration of a car in motion…” First off, with the exception of an old Mercury Lynx I had, vehicles do not ‘vibrate’ down the road. The device emits a microwave ‘beam’ (no real radar involved) down the road. If the police vehicle is not moving (stationary mode) then what the device does is ‘listen’ for returned or reflected instances of this emitted ‘beam’. It will determine if this beam’s known frequency has been changed to any measurable extent. That change in frequency is commensurate to the speed of a moving vehicle (closing vehicle compresses the wave minutely in accordance w/ Doppler’s Principal & a vehicle moving away lengthens the wavelength). The unit represents what it is measuring (a Doppler shift) w/ an audible tone that the cop hears as he observes the traffic stream.
So, what of tuning forks? Well some genius struck upon the notion that a tuning fork can, as it oscillates back & forth at 90 degrees to the ‘beam,’ induce a very specific Doppler shift for the unit to measure. If a very specific tuning fork is made in such a way as to induce, say, a displayed reading of forty-five Km/Hr, then the use of said fork can be an external test of a ‘Doppler Traffic Radar.’
This is not calibration. That is done as per the unit standard (usually annual, I think) by an outside electronics firm such as Pylon Electronics. The tuning forks are only an operator test.
Now, I have heard it said by industry people that the modern unit is continually monitoring all aspects of its performance a zillion time per second. Or thereabouts. The internal circuitry test which is a button the operator can press whenever is desired, is only a momentary snapshot of a continuous process. If something’s even remotely wrong w/ them, they just will not turn on. Simple as that. This guy said that these devices are their business & they must not operate if they are malfunctioning somehow. Makes sense. He said that the tuning fork test is simply a ‘hangover’ from an earlier time when the units were as smart as the hamster generating its power. Okay, that part was me but the old X-band’s could cure oil-based paint teo doors down. Alright I made that up, too but seriously, if you’re STILL w/ me by now, you deserve at least some humour &/or Lagavulin. I’m getting the Lagavulin.
From my ‘inside-baseball’ view of this, if you got a speeding ticket, I wouldn’t worry if the device was accurately showing your speed. What various Courts might do in response is anybody’s guess. That’s a human system that makes me want to have two ounces of Lagavulin (the 12 yr old cask strength adipose do to the usual 16 yr). Go in peace & sin no more.
John
I was stopped last year for 15 km over and warned. My (accurate) speedo and GPS both were 2-3 over. I asked him to pace me at the limit – he said I was 12 over. He was ok and warned me, but said he’d been here and had issued 20 tickets to speeders based on his supposedly accurate radar. Exactly!, I thought.
I asked the question while I was fighting two photo radar tickets, given to me from the same machine on different days. They were exactly 68 and 69 km/hr, I took my bike’s owner’s manual with me that stated the error in my speedo. We all know bikes read high, so for me to be caught doing those speeds, I’d have to be doing a bit higher speed. I never speed through a school zone, even when school is out, I do the posted 50 km/hr in this case. I also asked the court how often the radar equipment was calibrated. They told me once a year!!! They cut the tickets in half 🙂
My issue is why can I not calibrate my speedometer? If I am of the impression I am obeying the speed limit based on the available information why should I be held responsible for something beyond my control? My current speedometer is out by almost 10%.
This can be changed by your tire size
Yes but I currently have the OEM tire on. So it was not calibrated from the factory and most are not.
The majority of bikes are out by 10% but it’s on the slow side, an indicated 100kph is actually 90kph. Every bike I’ve owned and all the friends I ride with are the same. So no worries, it’s not that others are driving like idiots, you’re slow
The point is that the speedo is wrong. How can operators be held accountable when we have no idea how fast we are going? Speedos should be able to be calibrated as should the radar. Then we are all on a level playing field.
You can easily calibrate your own speedometer. Just buy or borrow a GPS that has a speed readout, and check the speed reported by the GPS when you’re riding at a steady speed, and remember the correction needed when you leave the GPS at home.