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Did cop get speeding tickets wrong?

Speeding fine police

A Brisbane magistrate has found a rider guilty of speeding, despite video evidence seeming to show he was the only one of four riders travelling together who was not speeding.

Steve, whose surname has been withheld, says the Magistrate took more than three hours to view the video evidence, but declared he could not see the second rider.

The Magistrate also said he could not discern the differences between the bikes, despite them being substantially different styles.

“No matter how many times we zoomed in and screened it, he said ‘I don’t see any evidence of a bike there’,” Steve says.

“My legal team was prepared for every argument, but not for the judge not seeing my bike. He just could not discern the difference between the second rider and the trees behind.”

Police video

Steve sent us the police video which seems to show that he was the second rider travelling about 60km/h in a 60km/h zone.

The video was also referenced in our article last week about how police fine riders speeding in groups. Click here for our article.

The four friends were riding on Mt Glorious Rd heading east toward Samford village when police officer Senior Constable John Wilkins passed them in the opposite direction in a patrol car.

The video was subpoenaed from a police body camera.

It shows the varying speeds of each rider.

The officer then does a u-turn over solid double white lines and chases them down at speeds up to 130km/h, stopping only the first three riders. The fourth rider continues past.

Speeding fine police
Police pass rider 4 who was not stopped

The video shows the first rider at about 76km/h, then Steve at about 60 and rider three at 80km/h. The fourth rider is only seen after the u-turn.

However, it is difficult to know at what point the radar picks up the rider’s speed. 

After the first rider goes past, the speed quickly drops to about 60km/h, but as Steve (rider 2) passes the car, the speed jumps up to 75km/h.

Steve believes that is the speed of rider 3 as it does not change even after he passes the car.

Steve claims he was booked for the third rider’s speed.

Speeding fine ‘mistakes’Speeding fine police

He also says Wilkins made several other mistakes, apart from letting the fourth rider go.

“He wrote out all three tickets for the same speed; 76kmh in a 60kmh zone but then made a mistake with the third ticket which had a time 10 minutes later than the first two and has documented rider 2 travelling at 80km/h,” Steve says.

“The body camera is actually dated the day before at 10pm. How many mistakes are they going to allow?”

Steve says Wilkins mistakenly told the court rider 2 was doing 80km/h and the third rider was doing 79km/h. However, there is no evidence of another motorcycle after the one doing 80km/h and before the u-turn.

Also Wilkins is seen to be apparently turning off the radar antenna locking the display at 79km/h.

Steve has spent more than $5000 to reach the unsatisfying verdict.

He has now started a GoFundMe campaign to support his campaign to “expose the truth” and says he would do it again for the sake of justice.

Now you’ve seen the video, was rider 2 been correctly accused of speeding at 80km/h and is any rider guilty of speeding at 80km/h? Leave your comments below.

  1. There is “evidence” and there is “police evidence”. It seems that different standards apply, such that “police evidence” is anything that can be conveniently cobbled together to convict someone of anything.

  2. I wanted to donate but GoFundMe doesn’t accept Paypal (not disclosing my CC detail): an oversight that is not negotiable for me 🙁

  3. Coming back from a Maleny Swap meet , going through Maleny town and heading home , there was a un marked car traveling 10 -15 kms UNDER the speed limit , he was waiting for someone to pass him , so he could fine them . He turned around and went back to start again , they wonder why the public don’t like them! Dodgy Bast@rds

  4. I feel sorry for him, but a bloke should think of all the times he / she should have been locked up with the keys thrown away for going over the limit and not caught. I know he was probably in the right this time, but it has to average out. I just take it on the chin when it happens.

  5. I would like to talk about graduated licences.
    This is that a driver or rider should pass an advanced driving programme for using the road and would need to demonstrate in a quantified manner certain road skills and vehicle handling skills, would be educated regarding how to read situations developing on the road and have , again quantified assessment of a greater knowledge of the road statutory codes.
    The licence holder would have had to at least five years of holding a current full licence.
    Then this would entitle the holder to travel at up to 20 k/h above certain designated speed zones , 50, 60,and 80k/h zones excluded from this and and temporary reductions eg road works.
    This is not so radical since we all ready have graduated licences such as L and P plate drivers and then various licences for types of vehicles . The driver would attach an icon to the vehicle every time the driver drove/rode
    I would be interested in what people think

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