Canadians who’ve received speeding tickets over the last few years may have been measured differently depending on where the ticket was issued.
That’s because police forces use different testing routines for their radar devices, which raises the question of which devices actually yield valid detections.
Dash mounted radar systems are used by police forces across Canada to catch speeding drivers and they are tested before each shift to ensure their accuracy.
The equipment is tested using tuning forks which are, “two-pronged metal devices which vibrate when tapped, creating a frequency that mimics a set speed,” CBC News reports.
That set speed should then be reflected in the radar unit’s reading to make sure it’s working properly. If an inaccurate speed is recorded, the radar unit should be taken out of service and no longer be used to speed enforcement.
But while the majority of Canadian police forces still use tuning forks, the Ontario Provincial Police stopped doing these tests more than a decade ago.
Currently, RCMP officers working throughout the country are still required to use tuning fork tests, as does the Sûreté du Quebec. The test is still also a legal requirement in the U.S.
Tuning fork testings have been considered unnecessary as inconsistent court rulings, manufacturer instructions, and police standards appears to dictate whether the test is required.
In some provinces speeding tickets have even been challenged in court and dismissed due to issues with tuning fork accuracy. Toronto lawyer Dannial Baker believes that police-issued traffic tickets based on devices that are not tested with a tuning fork are fraudulent. “I think a lot of people got convicted when they shouldn’t have been convicted,” Baker told CBC News. Baker believes that tuning-fork tests should be reinstated in Ontario and is calling for an investigation into why the OPP stopped using them.
This raises concern over how many tickets that have been issued are actually valid. More than six million speeding fines were issued under the province’s Highway Traffic Act over the past decade.
John McNall, a former OPP speed-management co-ordinator told CBC News that he asked U.S. radar manufacturer Decatur Electronics to take the test out of its operating manuals in 2004. He said he had concerns that officers were “fudging their evidence.”
Decatur Electronics agreed that the tests were redundant and removed them from OPP operating manuals and said that they weren’t actually legally required in Canada.
Aside from radar testing, many police forces in North America are turning to laser devices to track speeding, which are considered to be more accurate and less cumbersome and don’t require tuning-fork tests.
Regardless of what system police forces are using, the public should be assured that the devices are meeting all standards and are reporting fair and accurate speeds. Otherwise there will be serious backlash from unhappy drivers.
In other words, if you’ve been issued a ticket recently, you may have grounds to fight its legitimacy. Which could be just the tune you’re looking to hear.
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