Everything you need to know about police radar, laser and speed cameras in the Northern Territory

1) What are the different types of police radar / laser & speed cameras used in NT?

a) What is the respective the tolerance / accuracy of each device?

 

b) What are the guidelines for use of this equipment?

 

c) How do these devices make mistakes?

i) Moving Radar errors and mistakes

 

ii) Laser (LIDAR) errors and mistakes

 

iii) Speed camera errors and mistakes

2) What products offer the best protection against these types of police radar / laser / cameras?

a) What are the laws governing the use of radar / laser detectors?

 

b) Can the police determine if you are using a radar detector?

3) What are the penalties / demerit points and speeding fines for NT?

a) If I know I wasn't speeding, how can I challenge / beat a speeding fine

4) What are the road fatality statistics for Northern Territory?

5) Summary for police radar, laser and speed cameras in Northern Territory

What Radar / Laser speed measuring devices are used in NT?

Firstly, it needs to be explained that there are four different RADAR bands (frequencies) used throughout the world as well as LASER (which is completely different to radar).

The four radar bands include:

X-Band (10.275GHz up to 10.775GHz) - not used anywhere in Australia

K-Band (24.050GHz up to 24.250GHz)

Ka-Band (33.400GHz up to 36.000GHz) - Australia is licensed for 34.2 - 35.2GHz only

Ku-Band (13.175GHz to 13.675GHz) - not used anywhere in Australia

Radar (short for radio and ranging) works by transmitting a pulse of electromagnetic (EM) energy, also referred to as RF energy at a moving object.  Using the Doppler principle the radar gun ‘listens’ to the change in pitch of the radio waves as they reflect off the moving vehicle and thus determines the speed.  Similarly when a train blows its whistle as it passes you – you can hear the change in pitch of the whistle, as the train moves past. 

The radar beam starts out as a small diameter pulse when it leaves the radar gun, but grows quite rapidly as the distance increases from the gun.  At a distance of 300 metres, the radar beam is now 100 metres tall and 200 metres wide! If 6 cars were simultaneously hit by a radar beam (six vehicles driving down the freeway), 6 pulses would come back to the radar gun, and the radar gun would detect (and report the speed of) the largest signal of the 6 signals present.  To overcome this shortfall, the latest radar units with Digital Signal Processing (DSP) can identify the strongest and the fastest targets to try and help the police officer identify which vehicle's speed is being displayed on the radar gun.

Because the radar beam is so large when traveling down the road, a radar detector can be located almost anywhere in or on the vehicle, and it will detect the radar signal.  Radar will penetrate glass, plastic, even people, but is reflected by metal and metallic objects.  Radio waves will only travel in a straight line, so you are relying on reflections of other objects to give you advanced warning if you do not have a line of sight with the radar gun.

Traffic radar uses a radar beam to measure speed. Think of the beam as a searchlight. It’s invisible because it’s made of microwaves instead of light, but otherwise it acts very much like a light beam. It travels in straight lines. It’s easily reflected. It scatters as it is passed through dust and moisture in the air. And — this is essential — it has to hit your car before it can determine your speed. Radar can’t see around corners or through hills. It can’t see you when you are behind another vehicle. When in the clear, how strongly your vehicle reflects determines at what distance the radar can detect your speed. Generally, larger vehicles reflect more strongly than smaller vehicles. Trucks are more “visible” at further distances than cars. The principle on which radar operates is absolutely reliable. Radar equipment, on the other hand, is only as good as the quality of its design and manufacture. Traffic radars tend to be unreliable. They’re cheaply made and therefore vulnerable to many interferences that cause false readings. And, compared to the military and weather radar which have rotating antennas, traffic radars are vastly simplified. This simplification means that traffic radar cannot tell one car from another. The operator has to do that, and since the operator can’t see an invisible beam any better than you can, he frequently doesn’t know which vehicle’s speed is being read. This is a source of many undeserved tickets.

As a defense against radar detectors, many police radar units can be operated in the Instant-on mode, also called the Pulse mode. This means the radar is in position, but it is not transmitting a beam. So it cannot be detected. When the target is within range, the radar operator switches on the beam and the radar calculates the speed, usually in less than a second. This calculation happens too quickly for the target (you) to respond in time.  Still, you can defend against Instant-on by recognizing it when the operator zaps traffic ahead of you.

As well as radar, there is also LASER (also known as LIDAR, - LIght Detection And Ranging), which operates at a frequency of 904nm ± 33MHz. A police laser (LIDAR) gun emits a highly focused beam of invisible light, in the near infrared region of light, at 904nm of wavelength, with the beam being around 50cm in diameter at a distance of 300m from the laser gun. Unlike RADAR which determines a vehicle's speed by measuring its Doppler shift, police laser (lidar) calculates speed by observing the changing amount of time is takes to "see" reflected pulses of light over a discreet amount of time.

Because the laser beam's diameter is so narrow, if a laser gun is aimed at the license plate, the beam is so small, that most times, none of the laser signal would actually “spill over” up to the windshield, where your detector is mounted.  Thus, a radar detector with laser detector mounted on the windscreen would not even detect the laser beam targeted on the license plate (or headlights or bumper for that matter). This means the beam of a laser gun is accurate enough to target a single vehicle out of, let’s say, six vehicles driving down the freeway. The laser gun can target and detect that single vehicle in less than ½ second after the trigger is pulled, while the surrounding vehicles would not detect the laser beam as it passed right beside their vehicle! 

Other than radar and laser, there are other ways of calculating a vehicle's speed being:

• Vascar - This is not a radar or laser, system; rather it is a glorified stopwatch that relies on the policeman's honesty and accuracy. They are mounted in the police car and are often used when following the target. When the target car goes past a landmark (usually a white marking across the road), the timer is started and when the car goes past the second landmark, the timer is stopped. It is hooked up to the patrol car's speedometer to give a target speed reading. It relies on the button being pushed at the right time and the pacing distance to be long enough to overcome any timing errors. The only countermeasure is careful observation, or a GPS unit if it's a regularly used Vascar area (not used in NT).

• Piezo-electric strips - pressure-sensitive strips embedded in the roadway (a set distance apart if speed is to be measured - typically 1-3 metres)  (not used in NT).

• Inductive Loops - embedded in the roadway detect the presence of vehicles, and with two loops a set distance apart vehicle speed can be measured (not used in NT)

• Arial Speed checks (similar to Vascar)  (not used in NT).

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In Northern Territory, the police use the following speed measurement devices:

The KR10-SP manufactured by Kustom Signals Inc in the USA was the first dash mounted K-band radars used by the NT police cars.  The KR10 can be used in stationary and moving mode, and can be used in "instant on" mode or "constant on" mode.  One antenna for front only or two antennas for front / rear can be used.

NT police cars have been upgraded with a newer dash mounted (moving radar) for their highway patrol cars, with dual antennas for targeting cars in both directions.  It is unclear whether the latest radars are the Silver Eagle or Golden Eagle from Kustom, although both models operate on K-band

There are reports from some websites that NT also uses the Bee III dash-mounted (moving radar) manufactured by MPH industries in the U.S.  The MPH Bee operates at 33.8GHz (ka-band version) which is outside the ACMA allocation for Australia, therefore if the MPH Bee is in fact used in Aus, it is likely to be the K-band version.

Hand-held laser (aka lidar):

The Lidar gun used in the Northern Territory is the LTI Ultralyte 100LR.  The LTI Ultralyte 100 LR used in Australia is the 100pps (pulses per second) model displaying speed and distance in km/h and km respectively.  The LTI Ultralyte 100LR operates at a frequency of 904nm, and as per all speed lidar guns, has an extremely narrow divergence of the  radar beam, as well as  able to acquire a vehicle's speed in less than one second.

Mobile Speed Cameras:

For speed cameras, the NT utilize Lasercam made by Redflex Traffic Systems in Melbourne.  It has a day time range of 5 - 100m and a night time range of 15 - 80 metres.  The NT Speed Camera Unit consists of three speed camera vans located in Darwin and Alice Springs and are responsible for the detection of speeding motorists in those locations. The vans are also utilized in other centres during traffic campaigns and localized traffic operations.

In 2005 there were 40,265 traffic infringement notices issued by police in the NT, up 59% from 2000. Exceeding the speed limit remained the most common type of traffic infringement notice in the NT, accounting for 77% of all traffic infringement notices in 2005, in comparison to 80% in 2000. Speed camera infringements occur predominantly in the Darwin City.

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How accurate are these devices?

The assumption being made here, is that the speed measuring equipment is being used according to the manufacturer's guidelines (see below).

 

The Kustom Eagle dash mounted moving radar is accurate to ± 2km/h in stationary mode and ± 3km/h in moving mode

 

The LTI Ultralyte Laser (Lidar) gun is also accurate to ± 2km/h and cannot be operated in moving mode.

 

The Redflex Lasercam speed camera is accurate to ± 1.6km/h

What are the guidelines for use of this equipment?

Contrary to what the government or police would have you believe, the accuracy of these "speed measuring devices" can be somewhat doubtful, particularly if the manufacturer's guidelines for use are not strictly followed.  Police officers, and mobile speed camera operators are trained in the proper use of these devices, but that isn't to say these guidelines are always followed.  It is estimated that 10% of all LIDAR infringements are incorrect and up to 30% of all moving radar speed readings are also incorrect!

The Australian standards AS 2898.2-2003:

"Radar speed detection - Operational procedures" - can be purchased HERE

The Australian standards AS 4691.2-2003:

"Laser-based speed detection devices - Operational procedures"

- can be purchased HERE

What does all this mean? It means that there are requirements for the correct placement and setup of speed camera devices as well as guidelines for the use of radar devices.  Rules that must be followed for setup, placement and testing! But are they?

How do Police Radar, Laser & Speed Cameras make mistakes?

Speed Laser (Lidar) mistakes

Police LIDAR can also make errors if not operated according to the manufacturer's guidelines.

1. Stationary - Laser cannot be used in moving mode, they must be used whilst stationary.  Similar to radar, laser cannot be used in the rain, snow, or high dust environments.

2. Interference - If for any reasons intended signal returns are interrupted, it may not be able to determine target velocity. Bright lights (such as Halogens) beaming directly into a laser aperture may desensitize or entirely masks target's echoes. The brighter and closer the light source the greater the chance of interference.

3. Cosine Error - Is the angle from 0* perpendicular to the target vehicle. The greater the cosine angle the greater the error. However, cosine error is always in favor of the motorist, one of the speed readings will be will be proportionally less than the actual speed of the target vehicle.

4. Sweep Error (also known as pan or slip error) - Is manifested when the laser is aimed at one part of the vehicle, say the license plate, and due to the motion of the operator, the laser also targets a side mirror during the same trigger pull. Sweep Error adds to the real speed of the target vehicle. See videos below.

5. Reflection Error - On very hot days with low humidity a visible mirage/reflection of the target vehicle is created. In many cases, when the laser is aimed at the target vehicle the infrared beam also receives readings from both the target vehicle and the mirage causing a Sweep Error.

6. Overexposure Error - When a laser gun receives an extremely powerful reflective signal, such as a sun flare off a vehicle, the computer's timer can't see return of the 904 nanometer signal it sent. It can't compute a speed reading. In general, the laser gun is looking for the strongest return reflection of its own emitted beam for speed computation.

LTI 20-20 exposed as unreliable (source)

Daily Mail, 15th October 2005.

Experts and two investigations by the BBC's Inside Out program and The Daily Mail have revealed that the police's favourite speed gun, the LTI 20-20, is flawed and can produce incorrect and unreliable speed readings. The device is used in some 3500 speed traps around the UK, but motorists have been prosecuted for speeding when they're adamant that they weren't over the limit. However, the main expert witness called by the CPS to defend the equipment in court is the boss of the UK importer, Frank Garratt, a former police officer and now a millionaire.

In tests the speed gun recorded a wall speeding at 44mph. (Yes, a brick wall, that's not a misprint) Other tests showed a bicycle doing 66mph and a parked car doing 22mph. The Daily Mail reports that even when the camera is set up following the police's own guidelines and the manufacturer's handbook some of the readings were wildly off the mark.

The newspaper wrote "The Mail can expose the scandal of a speed enforcement industry in which the collection of fines is considered paramount - whatever the consequences for innocent drivers caught in police traps by faulty readings." Lawyers told the paper that motorists are now rebelling by refusing to pay fines and fighting their cases through the courts. One solicitor, Barry Culshaw from Southampton, is representing 15 clients who all claim to have been a victim of faulty LTI 20-20 readings.

Another discovery, writes The Daily Mail, is that vital video film, often taken as secondary evidence, is often mysteriously withheld from accused motorists by the CPS. On at least 10 occasions the CPS has suddenly dropped the case against a motorist when ordered by a judge to hand over the revealing footage. 

Dr Michael Clark is Europe's leading expert on laser technology and a former directory of a company making laser detection equipment for traffic lights and car parks. He's also a fierce critic of the speed gun and has acted as an expert witness on behalf of many motorists since he defended himself after being caught for alleged speeding.

Dr Clark says the gun is defective because its wide beam can easily pick up the wrong vehicle and if not held firmly on the target (which is a difficult task itself) it can produce an erroneous speed result because of "slippage".

Reflections from road signs and from other cars, even stationary ones, can also make the laser device misinterpret the true speed of the vehicle. The LTI 20-20 works by sending out a beam to measure the distance of the target from the officer operating it and also how long it takes for the beam to reflect off the target and bounce back. The operator looks through the sights and sees a red dot which he aims onto the target and presses a trigger. Critically the beam must be held firmly at the same point on the moving vehicle. But if slippage occurs and the beam moves up, down, or along the vehicle the gun will measure an inaccurate reading.

In tests in the USA, it was shown that if the beam slips from the windscreen of a car down to its grille on the bonnet it can add 8mph onto the vehicle's measured speed. If it slips along the length of the car - which is possible when a vehicle comes around a corner into the speed gun's sights - a whopping 30mph can be added on to the reading.

The BBC's experiments with the LTI 20-20 were dismissed by both the UK importers and ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers) saying it was impossible for the gun to make any errors and that the BBC used an American version of the gun which they claim has less reliable software.

However, that claim was been rejected by the Daily Mail who obtained a UK version of the gun - a LTI 20-20 Ultralyte certified by Tele-Traffic, the UK importers based in Warwick.

Dr Clark points out during the experiments that the gun uses a multi-mode laser which uses 3 beams, not one. Over a long distance the beams widen so if it's targeted onto one vehicle it can unintentionally hit another vehicle nearby by mistake. Dr Clark said "A policeman can't tell from 400 meters away - or even at a longer distance in many cases - exactly which car he is marking." To demonstrate his point they parked a car at the side of the road and drove a white van past it at just 3mph. The laser gun was pointed at the car from 371 meters away which, according to the handbook, is easily within its capabilities.

As soon as the van drove past the parked car the laser gun picked up the moving van. It was impossible to target just the parked car along and as a result the car was recorded as travelling at 3mph, even though it was really stationary. The experiment was repeated with the van doing 26mph and the gun clocked the parked car at 26mph.

Another problem is reflection from other vehicles. They pointed the gun at a different parked car and slowly drove the white van past. It recorded the parked car doing 22mph. Dr Clark explains "The beam sometimes catches the reflection of a nearby car. It zig-zags to this car before carrying on to the target vehicle and returns by the same route."

In their final experiment they pointed the gun at a brick wall with no moving vehicles in the area. They moved the beam along the wall instead of keeping it perfectly still on a single point to create the slippage effect. The gun was confused and showed a speed of 44mph. Dr Clark said "This shows how a traffic officer can mistakenly pick up a reading from a wall by the side of a motorway or even an empty road if he doesn't target a vehicle properly. Of course there's no record to prove if an officer had targeting the vehicle properly or not. Assumption of accuracy is always taken for granted even if the officer had unwittingly made a mistake.

ACPO state that the gun shouldn't be used at distances more than 500 meters, but Dr Clark says that it's being used in some cases at double that distance.

Despite the recent media interest in these issue the shortcomings of the gun was discovered nearly a decade ago in 1996 in the US state of New Jersey. The state temporarily banned the gun after a court witnessed someone targeting the gun on a wall of the courtroom and it measured 4mph. The lawyer, Joe Maccarone, defending a motorist accused of speeding called on an expert from NASA. The expert said that at just over 300 metres there was only a 60% chance of a human operator hitting a 12 foot wide target with a laser gun. Cars are only 6 foot wide so the chances of hitting something other than the target are very high indeed.

Hand-held laser mistakes videos

If you have been given a ticket from a laser gun when you were positive you weren't doing the alleged speed, then

YOU MUST WATCH THIS VIDEO!

Part Two

This video also shows how "reflection" can also create errors in speed readings, as well as the slip error as featured in the first video

A pop-up window will appear so please make sure your pop-up blocker doesn't prevent it from opening and playing in a new window.

Speed camera mistakes:

Since the speed cameras used in the NT are Lasercam units, they are susceptible to the same errors as normal laser (lidar) guns above.  If the operational guidelines are strictly followed, then there shouldn't be many mistakes.  This isn't to say mistakes don't / haven't happened.  For example:

Speed camera convictions in Northern Territory, Australia are subject to challenge following a court ruling shows devices are not properly checked.

A Northern Territory Magistrate has overturned a speed camera conviction after the defense proved cameras were not checked for accuracy in accordance with the law. The decision threatens the state's lucrative speed camera program, leaving unpaid fines subject to challenge.

In August 2005, a speed camera accused Va'Clav Step, 55, of driving his 1978 Holden van at 71km/h in a 60km/h zone (44 MPH in a 37 zone). Magistrate John Lowndes determined the certificate of accuracy for the ticketing machine had, in effect, expired on June 13, 2005. The law requires a test every six months but the evidence showed police were performing the test every 12 months.

Lowndes also found that the speed camera ticket improperly presented the time and place of each alleged incident. According to NT law, this information must be on the image itself, not printed below the photograph.

"I was angry at how the police treated me when I went to talk to them about it -- it was if I was a criminal," Step told the Northern Territory News. "They said I couldn't prove that the speed camera was wrong -- they told me just to pay it."

Lowndes dismissed all charges against Step. (source)

SPEED CAMERA EVIDENCE IN DOUBT, WARNS SAFE SPEED

We are hearing of dropped court cases all around the country concerning laser speed cameras in mobile vans. The cases are being dropped when defendants exercise their legal rights by demanding to see the "traffic video", 7 days before a court hearing.

Paul Smith, founder of the Safe Speed campaign said: "The rumours are that some of these traffic videos prove that the equipment does not always record speeds correctly. We don't know of any other explanation for these mysterious failures of the CPS to provide traffic videos when formally requested."

UK law, drafted in the interests of a fair trail, provides an opportunity for both sides to examine the evidence prior to trial in a process known as "disclosure". Defendants are entitled to disclosure of evidence no later than 7 days before the trial. Any evidence not so disclosed must should be excluded from consideration by the court. If a traffic video is not disclosed, then it cannot be admitted as evidence and no corroborative evidence of the speed of the vehicle would be available to the court.

Paul continues: "We strongly recommend that no one submits to a trial in one of these cases without proper advanced disclosure of the video evidence. A short clip is not enough, the entire video comprises one "document" and defendants are entitled to disclosure of the whole document."

These doubts about the legal evidence in speeding cases are centred around the "LTI 20/20" laser speed meter. Most, if not all, mobile speed traps in the UK use this particular equipment. In a typical application the laser speed meter is linked to video recording apparatus that records continuous video from a speed trapping session. The vehicles and their number plates are recorded on the video, and the speed readings from the laser speed meter are superimposed on the pictures. This means that the video is the main evidence of the speeding offence.

The LTI 20/20 has been criticized for spurious readings in other countries according to reports. (source)

What is the best defense against each of these speed measuring devices??

So what happens when you are driving down the road, sitting on 80km/h (according to your speedometer) in an 80km/h stretch of road, but you cop a speeding fine?

 

We will analyze each NT speed measuring device and discuss the products available:

 

Dash Mounted radar:

The dash mounted Golden Eagle by Kustom Signals operates on K-band.  When the police officer is driving down the road "shooting" at on-coming traffic he is doing it in two ways; constant on or instant on.  In constant on, the radar beam is constantly transmitting down the road.  When an oncoming car enters the radar's beam, a reflected signal is returned to the gun, and a speed is displayed on the unit.  Again, any decent radar detector will give advanced warning in this scenario.

 

In "instant on" the radar unit is powered on, but not transmitting.  When the approaching vehicle is within range, the radar gun is then switched on (transmitting) and the target vehicle's speed is displayed within a second or two.  "Instant on" radar can be deadly, again, if you're the only car on the road.  For this reason it pays to keep a "rabbit" in front of you so he or she is targeted and you detect the radar in advance.

 

Some people have queried the possibility of a radar jammer. Your most important question in purchasing a so-called radar jammer should be "does it work?"
 
You may have seen them advertised on other websites and some magazines: the passive radar/laser jammers (also known as radar scramblers).  Some passive jammers are Phantom, Phantom II, Phaser or Phazar, the Phantom III and The Black Widow.

Passive radar Jammers DO NOT WORK!  These "jammers" are usually manufactured by a company called Rocky Mountain Radar (RMR). We have tested many of their units and we have yet to find one that works as advertised.

Know what to avoid before you purchase such a passive jammer, consider reading the "Jamming Testing Report" by Radar Roy first to find out why we do not sell and/or recommend them.

Active Radar Jammers - Not Much Improvement! You may have also heard of the active radar jammers with the name of Phantom RCD XP or The Scorpion. These do work to a limited degree.

Active radar jammers like those named above, only jam X, K with any success and have difficulty jamming Instant on radar.  Their effectiveness against Ka radar is even less, especially at close range.  Read a test report on active radar jammers here.

 

Hand-held laser (lidar):

Laser guns are another "deadly" device in that they can calculate your speed in less than a second.  Although most radar detectors include a laser sensor, they usually offer little more than a "ticket notifier" when they go off.  Having said that, there ARE circumstances where a laser (detector) can and has, provided adequate warning...although these are few and far times in between.  Click on the video below and to the left (allow pop-ups) to watch just how quickly a laser acquires a vehicle's speed.

 

So what is the best defenses against laser?  Well, as far as a detector goes, the best at detecting laser is the Valentine One.  Granted we just finished convincing you a detector is useless against laser, but the Valentine One, will give you the best chance of detecting "off-axis" laser from the car in front of you being targeted.  For proof that the Valentine is the best unit at detecting laser, you can read Bob's (The Veilguy) Laser Detector test:

"That being stated, these results suggest that, especially in close-range laser encounters, the Valentine 1 is the top performing laser detector, by a wide-margin, followed by the Escort 8500 X50 and more closely, the STi Driver, and the Beltronics RX65 Pro.."

But as aforementioned, just detecting the laser won't be enough.  The most cost effective solution is with the use of Veil anti-laser paint.  Veil will give you additional seconds warning time when used in conjunction with a good laser detector.  You can read more about Veil in our laser jammers section.

 

The best defense against laser is by the use of an active laser jammer.  Unlike most active radar jammers, active laser jammers do work.  An active laser jammer will prevent a speed being displayed for a brief time whilst you adjust your speed if necessary.  The best laser jammers for the Australian model LTI Ultralyte according to the Guys Of Lidar 2007 test are the Laser Interceptor and the Blinder.  You need to look at the results for the Ultralyte 100pps as these are the laser guns used in Australia.  The Laser Pro Park finished fifth in the test against these laser guns.

 

Mobile Speed Cameras:

The Lasercam NT is paired with a laser gun such as the LTI 20-20 Marksman.  Thus the same products discussed above would also offer protection against this camera.  Veil anti-laser paint will give you a few more seconds warning time if used in conjunction with a good radar detector, but for the best protection, a laser jammer would give you adequate time to check your speed.

 

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How does each radar detector perform detecting NT radars, lasers & cameras?

 

BTST Detector
Bel RX55
Bel RX65
Bel RX75
Bel Vector 940
Bel Vector 955
Bel Vector 965
Bel Vector 995
Bel 966r
Bel 975r
Bel 990i
Bel STi driver
Bel XR **
Bel STi-R
Bel XR70 **
Cheetah Mirror
Cheetah Sentinel
Cobra 9330
Cobra 9930
Early Warning
Escort SR7