As B.C. police crack down on speeders in the wake of tougher new regulations, some drivers are finding out the hard way that radar isn't the only weapon in traffic cops' arsenal.
Vancouver businessman Miljenko Horvat was driving on Point Grey Road this week when an officer motioned from the roadside for him to pull over.
"He said, ‘You were speeding,' and I said, ‘Well, I'm not sure -- how fast was I going?'" Horvat told CTV News.
The officer didn't know the exact speed, either. Horvat said he asked for the exact radar reading.
"He said, 'Why don't you just own up to your actions? Take responsibility for your actions.' I said ‘What does that mean?'"
It turns out the officer didn't have a radar gun, but he ticketed Horvat anyway.
"He said -- and I quote -- 'We are trained in speed assessment,'" Horvat said. "I must have said to him something like, 'What?' Because then he repeated it: 'We are trained in speed assessment.'"
Horvat Googled "speed assessment training," and found many references to sports, but nothing about law enforcement.
But the Vancouver Police Department confirms that visual speed estimates from trained officers are accepted in B.C. courts.
"They are recognized in court as officers who have that training and who can give expert evidence into the assessment of speed," Const. Lindsay Houghton said.
The BC Civil Liberties Association says that's essentially "guesstimating," which gives police too much discretionary power.
"The problem is that there is a tool that can be a lot more precise," BCCLA director David Eby said.
"Having an officer out there without a radar gun is like sending a carpenter out without a hammer. It doesn't make sense."
He added that human error and prejudice could come into play when traffic police don't use radar guns. "If the driver's a jerk, you might tend to estimate that the speed is higher."
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Peter Grainger
