Dear Editor,
It is a very good deed that the UK has done by donating the radar guns to the Guyana Police Force to aid in the fight against traffic lawlessness on this country’s roadways.
However I have some reservations with the specifications, features and how credible the services provided by those radar guns are.
The operational procedures as I understand is when the gun is aimed at an oncoming vehicle it automatically registers the rate of speed at which that vehicle is travelling. The registered rate of speed is then recorded and appears on the display window and is shown to the driver in question as the rate of speed at which the vehicle was travelling at that point.
This is a complete and simple process. The big question here is what mechanism or feature does the radar gun have to convince the driver that the figures shown on the display are indeed the rate of speed at which he was travelling. Let us examine a feature of a multi-meter.
This instrument is fitted with a feature which allows the user to measure the voltage or amperes of electrical equipment then records and displays such measurements on the display window.
This information on the display window can be kept as long as the user is desirous by activating a control button on the meter. There should be a similar feature on the radar gun so as to enable the user to capture, record and retain the rate of speed of the vehicle in order to show the driver. What I would like to know is whether these guns are fitted with the mechanism and feature to capture the image and licence registration number of the vehicle and display it along with the rate of speed the vehicle was travelling so that the driver cannot doubt what he/she was shown. If this feature is absent then there exists a situation whereby a selected rate of speed can be captured, recorded and retained on the display of the radar gun indefinitely allowing it to be used conveniently and in a questionable manner.
I am not questioning, doubting nor criticizing the integrity, honesty and trustworthiness of the police who are the users of the speed gun.
The main concern is that I feel that this equipment should be so designed that the results they afford us must be able to withstand scrutiny thereby affording the police credible evidence to prosecute an errant driver and at the same time presenting to the driver credible evidence that he/she was driving above the required speed limit.
Yours faithfully,
D Carryl
