Guinea pigs in speed-busting exercise by police

Recently I was stopped by the Police in Colombo for alleged speeding. I was fully aware of the speed that I was driving and I queried politely as to whether the time of the alleged speeding was indicated on the instrument used for checking. The Police officer’s answer was in the negative. He said they record the time manually on the charge sheet. I did not wish to argue, so accepted the charge sheet and paid the fine.

I may not be the only one charged with speeding in this manner. It happened to be a Sunday and the end of the month and I am told that their anticipated target of offenders for that month needs to be accomplished somehow. Unfortunately, we become the guinea pigs in that exercise.

However, in an environment where the integrity of some of the Police officers has been questionable, it is a totally unfair system to implement when absolute honesty of users is called for when using this type of instrument. Further, how can one be sure whether these instruments give the correct reading? Is there frequent (at least once in three months) calibration of such equipment carried out to check their accuracy by an independent organization (of course not the Police Department)? Are these records available for inspection? Any measuring instrument however sophisticated needs to be calibrated frequently to ensure that it is in good working order and gives correct results.

Further, these instruments should indicate the time of detection. This is important so that any old readings cannot be used against another driver subsequently.

Until the above conditions are fulfilled, to be fair by everybody, I suggest that these speed detectors should be banned from use.

By F. B. K. De Silva, Colombo 3