The Law Offices of Joseph T Brown PLC

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Speedometer Calibration for Reckless Driving and Speeding Cases

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Speedometer Calibration

In this article I will discuss the following issues regarding speedometer calibration for reckless driving and speeding cases: Should the Speedometer be Calibrated? Where to get a Speedometer Calibration, and how to read a Speedometer Calibration. The following is provided for informational purposes only, and is not legal advice. If you are charged with reckless driving by speed or speeding in the Fredericksburg, Virginia area, call the Law Offices of Joseph T. Brown PLC at 540-786-7700 for a free consultation.

It happens all the time. A person gets pulled over for speeding, the police officer informs them of the speed that they were going, even though the speedometer showed something different.

Car manufactures usually calibrate speedometers to show a speed that is a little higher than the actual speed, to give drivers some margin for error. Federal law allows factory speedometers to read 10% higher or lower than the actual speed (49 CFR 393.82).

https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/393.82

Speedometers can show the wrong speed

There are several factors that can cause a speedometer to show a speed that is incorrect. One major factor is the age of the car, as many times older vehicles with a lot of miles and wear on them will have speedometers that are not as exact as they used to be.

After-market tires and rims can also cause the speedometer to show an incorrect speed. If the wheel diameter is larger than the stock wheels, then the speedometer is going to show a speed that is lower than the actual speed. The difference in speedometer reading for non-stock tires can be calculated here:

http://www.instrumentclusters.com/#!speedometer-calculator/g5w1j

Other factors include tire wear, tire temperature and pressure, and load on the vehicle.

Speedometer Types

There are two basic types of speedometer mechanism, mechanical and electric. Both types are affected by the factors that are described above, especially tire diameter.

Cars older than 30 years or so used a mechanical method of determining speed of the car. A cable was attached to a gear mounted on the transmission, and the cable rotated inside the speedometer housing that created a magnetic field that would pull the speedometer dial to show the speed of the car.

Electrical speedometers, used on most cars on the road today, are controlled by the car’s ECU and measures pulses generated within the transmission by magnets located on the transmission’s output shaft. The car’s computer reads the magnetic field pulses to measure the rotational speed of the driveshaft and determines the speed of the vehicle.

Testing the Speedometer

Before paying for a speedometer calibration, a speedometer can be tested to see if it is not showing the correct speed. This method is not exact, but it can help determine if the car should be put on a dynamometer to be tested.

A measured mile is required. There are mile markers on the interstate highways and on some county roads. This method should only be used if it can be done in a safe manner.

At the beginning of the measured mile, take note of the odometer reading or reset the trip odometer to 0.0. At the end of the measured mile, take note of the odometer reading or the trip odometer reading.

If the odometer shows more than a mile was traveled, then the speedometer is showing a speed that is faster than the actual speed. If the odometer shows less than a mile was traveled, then the speedometer is showing a speed that is slower than the actual speed.

Speedometer Calibration Dynamometer

The best way to show in court that a speedometer is not showing the correct speed is to have a speedometer calibration certificate. Any automotive shop with a chassis dynamometer can test the speedometer and produce a certificate showing the speed that the speedometer displays at actual tire rotation speeds.

Generally speaking, a dynamometer is a device that measures force, torque, or rotational velocity. A chassis, or rolling road dynamometer is a specific type that is used for automobiles for many purposes, including calibrating a speedometer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamometer#Chassis_dynamometer_.28rolling_road.29

The chassis dynamometer will rotate and specific speeds, and the speedometer reading is noted at each tested speed, and recorded on the certificate.

How to Read a Speedometer Calibration Certificate

Most courts will allow a speedometer calibration certificate to be presented to the judge without a representative from the automotive shop present to verify that the certificate is authentic. However, before a certificate is presented to the judge, it should be examined closely to determine if it is actually helpful, and not harmful.

The speedometer calibration certificate will show several tested speeds, from 10 mph up to 70 or 80 mph. For each tested speed, the speedometer reading will be displayed.

If the speedometer reading is exactly the same as the tested speed, then the speedometer is working perfectly and the certificate is not helpful to defend a speeding ticket. If the speedometer shows a speed higher than the tested speed, then the certificate is actually harmful to a speeding case, since the driver had reason to believe the vehicle was traveling faster than the actual speed.

A useful speedometer calibration certificate will show a speedometer reading that is slower than the actual tested speed. In most cases the judge will give credit for the error in the speedometer reading, and lower the speed charged by the police by the same amount.

Where to get a speedometer calibration

There are several automotive shops in the Fredericksburg area that have a chassis dynamometer and can test the speedometer and produce a speedometer calibration certificate.

Southern Electronics
http://www.instrumentclusters.com/#!faq/aabrx

Brauning Automotive
http://brauningautomotive.com/performance.html

Burton’s Automotive
http://burtonauto.tripod.com/

Speedometer Testing and Calibration Center, Richmond, VA
http://www.speedotest.com/

Falls Run Car Care Center
540-899-6800
1314 Princess Anne Street
Fredericksburg, VA 22401

M&L Auto Inc.
http://www.mlautoinc.com/contact

Speedometercalibration.net, Sterling, VA
http://www.speedometercalibration.net

The Next Step

If you are charged with reckless driving by speed or speeding in the Fredericksburg, Virginia area, call the Law Offices of Joseph T. Brown PLC at 540-786-7700 for a free consultation. We will discuss your particular case and I will help you identify ways to defend your case and tell you what you can do before trial to give you the best chance to have the ticket dismissed or lowered to help avoid potential jail sentence, loss of license, and help you save money in fines, fees and increased insurance costs.

Photo by Sarah Sphar

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I Have A Reckless Driving Charge – What Now?

Reckless Driving in Virginia

Reckless Driving Charge in Virginia

If you have a Reckless Driving Charge, you should contact a lawyer to discuss your particular case and to learn how your case can be best handled in the courtroom at your trial.  You can call our office at 540-786-7700, my personal cell phone at 540-760-8725 or send us an email to schedule a free consultation for your reckless driving ticket.

Every case is different, and no website can tell you everything that you need to know. This website certainly isn’t intended to tell you how to handle your own case, and isn’t meant as legal advice.

There are several things that are often helpful if you are charged with Reckless Driving. These include the following:

  1. When you are being pulled over, it is always a good idea to be polite and cooperative with the police officer. They is just doing their job, and a big part of that job is to help keep the roads safe. The police don’t have anything against you personally, and it doesn’t cost you anything to smile and to be nice to them. They have no idea what they are going to find when they walk up to a car, and their job can be very risky. Do your best to put them at ease and to make the the stop as pleasant as possible. When you get in the courtroom, if you were polite and cooperative it can help you a great deal. Note that you do not have to ever agree to be searched, or to have your vehicle searched, and you never have to make any statements that could incriminate you. However when you decline an officer’s request for a search or to make statements you can still be polite and treat them with respect.
  2. Keep your hands on the wheel until they are at the window, don’t go digging into your glove box for your registration as soon as you get pulled over. Nothing makes a police officer more nervous than to see a driver reaching around in their car as they walk up. Remember they have no idea what to expect from you, so just relax and don’t make any sudden moves. If it is dark, then it is also a good idea to turn your interior lights on so that they can see that you are not a threat.
  3. If you have an older vehicle, you might want to consider having your speedometer calibrated. This calibration can be performed at any garage with a dynamometer, and is not very expensive. If your speedometer gives a reading that is less than your actual speed, the judge may give you credit for that and lower the speed of your ticket, which could change the offense from Reckless Driving to a simple speeding ticket.
  4. It is often a good idea to take your state’s defensive class, and to bring the certificate of completion with you to court. In Virginia the state recognizes the Defensive Driving Course and the Aggressive or Reckless Driving Course. These courses can help convince the judge that you are taking steps to be a better driver, and can reduce the negative points on your DMV record as well.
  5. You can also get your driving record from DMV for a small fee and bring that with you. The judge is going to want to know if you have been convicted of reckless driving or speeding in the recent past. The police often have your driving record with them in court, but it is always a good idea to have your record and to know what is on it before you appear before the judge. If you live in another state, the police most likely will not have your driving record, and so you should bring a copy with you, especially if you have a good record.
  6. Get a lawyer! Reckless Driving is a serious offense and a lawyer can recognize issues and defenses that may never occur to you. Also, a lawyer is more likely to be able to speak with the police officer about your case and to get information that is important for your trial. A lawyer is always going to handle your case better than you can on your own.

Reckless Driving can have sever and negative impacts on your ability to drive and the cost of your insurance. For extreme cases it can result in heavy fines, license suspension and jail time. If you are charged with Reckless Driving, contact our office today for your free consultation.

Photo by: Eli Christman

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Refusal in Virginia

 

If a person is arrested for DUI in VIrginia then the law compels that person to provide a breath sample to determine their Blood Alcohol level.  This requirement is known as the Implied Consent Statute, or section 18.2-268.2 of the Code of Virginia (Implied Consent to post arrest testing to determine drug or alcohol content of blood).

If a person unreasonably refuses to provide a breath sample after being arrested for a DUI then they can be found to be in violation of section 18.2-268.3 of the Code of Virginia, also known as theRefusal Statute.

The procedure in the code for the Refusal statute requires the person to be informed of the Implied Consent Statute after they have refused.  If they still refuse after receiving the information about the Implied Consent Statute then that person can be charged with Refusal.  The information that must be given is as follows:

“(i) a person who operates a motor vehicle upon a highway in the Commonwealth is deemed thereby, as a condition of such operation, to have consented to have samples of his blood and breath taken for chemical tests to determine the alcohol or drug content of his blood, (ii) a finding of unreasonable refusal to consent may be admitted as evidence at a criminal trial, (iii) the unreasonable refusal to do so constitutes grounds for the revocation of the privilege of operating a motor vehicle upon the highways of the Commonwealth, (iv) the criminal penalty for unreasonable refusal within 10 years of a prior conviction for driving while intoxicated or unreasonable refusal is aClass 2 misdemeanor, and (v) the criminal penalty for unreasonable refusal within 10 years of any two prior convictions for driving while intoxicated or unreasonable refusal is a Class 1 misdemeanor.”

Defenses of of an alleged violation of this statute usually center on whether the refusal was reasonable or not.  Many of the past cases have focused on whether the refusal was due to a physical limitation or inability to provide a sample.

The consequence for conviction of violation of this statute is that the person’s driver license is suspended for one year, with NO restricted license available during the suspension.  This suspension is in addition to any suspension imposed because of conviction for DUI.  The result is that if a person refuses to give a breath sample when arrested for DUI may be found guilty of refusal and lose their license for one year with no restricted license available to them.  Otherwise the consequences are a civil violation (not criminal) for a first conviction, and a second or first class misdemeanor for subsequent convictions.

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Restricted License in Virginia

 

Anyone who has their license suspended by the Court or by DMV may be interested in obtaining a restricted license if they qualify. The Judge may allow the restricted license but in some cases, such as convictions for Refusal and the first year of a three year suspension for a second DUI, the code may not allow a restricted license at all. In the case of a DUI conviction the restricted license can only be obtained after enrollment in the ASAP program.

A restricted license can be obtained to allow a person to drive for the following reasons:

To travel to and from a place of employment;
To attend ASAP or alcohol rehabilitation program;
To travel during employment hours if operation of a motor vehicle is part of the employment;
To travel to and from school if the person is a student;
To travel for health care services, including for services for an elderly parent or other person in the household;
To transport a minor child under their care for school, day care and medical purposes;
To travel to court and to probation;
To travel for religious worship;
To travel for case monitoring for DCSE (Child Support Enforcement).
If a restricted license was not obtained at the time the license was taken by the Court, then that same Court can be petitioned to grant a restricted license.

Ignition Interlock
Another aspect of a restricted license is the ignition interlock system. Ignition interlock can be ordered by the Court as condition of a restricted license, and ignition interlock is required for anyone driving on a restricted license if they have multiple convictions for DUI or were arrested with a high blood alcohol level. There is a monthly fee to have the ignition interlock installed in a vehicle, and it requires a breath sample before it will allow the vehicle to be started. The ignition interlock devices also keep records of every attempt to start the vehicle and the records these devices produce have been used as evidence that the driver tried to start the vehicle after consuming alcohol.

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DUI Legal Defense in Virginia

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Defenses to DUI (DWI, Driving While Intoxicated, Driving Under the Influence, Drunk Driving) at trial typically challenge the reason for the traffic stop in the first place, whether the arresting officer had sufficient evidence to arrest the person and whether the evidence presented at trial establishes proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the person is guilty. The first defense to DUI is usually whether or not the police had authority to pull the car over. Police may stop a vehicle any time they see a law being broken in front of them, or if they have a reasonable suspicion that the driver or an occupant of the car is breaking the law or has recently broken the law. This means that the police can pull a person over and investigate a person whose car has a burned out tail light or would otherwise not pass inspection. Another example is where police pull over someone and detain them briefly in order to determine if they are a person of interest in a crime. With everyone having a cell phone, many DUI arrests are made after someone calls to inform police of a drunk driver. In most cases the arresting officer has seen the person’s driving behavior himself and that is the basis for the stop. The reason for pulling a person over does not need to have anything to do with the offense of DUI, and doesn’t even have to be charged as a separate offense or proven beyond a reasonable doubt at trial. The police officer just has to be able to articulate a reasonable suspicion that some law was being broken.

The second defense to DUI is whether the police had authority to arrest the person for drunk driving. This is important because once a person is arrested for DUI they are required to give a sample of breath or blood to determine their blood alcohol level under section 18.2-268.2 of the Code of Virginia (Implied Consent to post-arrest testing to determine drug or alcohol content of blood).
Police usually establish probable cause for arrest for DUI by the following:
Observations of the officer – smell of alcoholic beverage, red eyes, slurred speech, stumbling, confusion, driving behavior, etc.;
Performance of the Field Sobriety Tests (FST) – These road side tests can include reciting the ABC’s, nine step walk and turn, touching the nose, finger dexterity test, etc. You do not have to take these tests;
Preliminary Breath Test – This is the hand held breath tester that most Police carry on the road. It is about the size of a deck of playing cards and has a short straw to blow into. Unlike the Breathalyzer under the implied consent law, you do not have to take this breath test and your refusal to take the test can not be held against you. If you do take this test, the fact that it showed some alcohol present in the breath test can be used by the Commonwealth to prove justification for the stop, but the exact results are not admissible;
Statements of the Defendant – In many cases the person who is pulled over will make statements that they are drunk or that they were drinking. You do not have to make any statements about whether you were drinking or are intoxicated. Your refusal to answer those questions can not be used against you.

The second defense to DUI attacks the sufficiency of the evidence that the Police have collected in order to justify an arrest (and Breathalyzer blood alcohol analysis). The less information the Police have to justify the arrest the greater your chance of successfully defending a charge of drunk driving. For example if a person doesn’t make any statements to the officer, and refuses to do the preliminary breath test and the field sobriety tests, then the Commonwealth has to prove by only the observations of the officer that there was probable cause for the arrest. In some cases this is enough, but if the officer does not establish probable cause by his testimony, your case could be dismissed.

The third defense to DUI challenges that the evidence taken as a whole, does not establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. This defense is made less important than the others, especially the second defense, because of the presumption statute, also known as section 18.2-269 of the Code of Virginia.

(Presumptions from alcohol or drug content of blood). This statute says that a person whose Blood Alcohol was above 0.08 is presumed to be under the influence. Assuming the Blood Alcohol was actually above 0.08, exclusion of the Blood Alcohol evidence (the goal of the second defense to DUI) is preferable to attempting to overcome the presumption that the state creates. That statute, along with the Implied Consent Statute 18.2-268.2 provides that if the Government can prove that there was probable cause to arrest a person for drunk driving, then that person is compelled to give a breath test for analysis and if the results show the Blood Alcohol to be 0.08 or above, that person is presumed to be guilty of DUI.

Anyone can see that the laws are designed to give every advantage to the Commonwealth and given the harsh penalties for DUI, anyone charged with DUI or DWI in Virginia should obtain the services of an attorney. At the Law Offices of Joseph T. Brown PLC we will analyze your case for all possible defenses and fight for you in the courtroom. If you are charged with DUI in a Fredericksburg, VA area court such as the courts of Stafford, Spotsylvania, King George, Fredericksburg or Caroline, call the Law Offices of Joseph T. Brown PLC at 540-786-7700 for a free consultation to discuss your case.

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Our Disclaimer

There are many pages in this website that are devoted to giving information about various topics in the law. This information is not meant to constitute legal advice and should not be considered legal advice for any reason. Anyone faced with a legal problem addressed in the pages of this site should contact the Law Offices of Joseph T. Brown PLC for a consultation.