WitsEnds Software

GPS to the rescue

What else you can do with GPS/AVL (Global Positioning System)...

As I was developing StopLOG, our GPS/AVL fleet management system, I spent a fair amount of time driving around with the unit strapped to the dashboard and watching the recorded data on an onboard laptop.

One night in January when I was returning to my mountain home southwest of Denver driving Honda Super Civic (alloy wheels, lowered, racing stripes, driving lights, wink mirror, etc) at 60 mph just after dark along a space of open divided highway I saw a car parked alongside the road on the shoulder. As I came closer to it (we watch carefully around here for anything moving on the shoulder - you haven't lived until you almost hit an elk at 60mph) I saw a movement and/or an interior light come on - just the sort of warning that tells me some bozo will open their driver's door into traffic just as I go by.

I was in the right lane, about two or three car lengths back behind a Dodge van in the left lane - staggered, as motorcyclists are wise to do. So, I swooped over (if you're going to change lanes, why be shy about it) into the left lane close behind the van. We both passed the car on the side of the road, and then I swooped back into my original lane. Imagine my surprise when, a mile later, the car that was parked alongside the road turned out to be a Colorado State Patrol car, and he pulled me over for 'following too closely'.

Although I attempted to explain that I was taking evasive action and was not habitually 'following too closely ', as a prudent driver, especially one with 600,000 miles of experience and a perfect driving record, would do, I got a ticket anyway. The policeman cordially explained to me that if I would plead guilty (even if I wasn't) I could mail in the $20 fine and get two points on my driving record. But, if I actually showed up in court and wasted everyone's time, it would cost $40 and four points (or something like that). Outraged at the idea that the police themselves (knowing it would be his word against mine in court) were offering to help me avoid the justice system, I said, graciously (!) 'see you in court, &$%#'. Basically the impression I got from the policeman was that 'I know better than you' and 'the judge will believe me anyway'.

When I went to court several months later, I was equipped with a number of strategies:

1) 'following too closely' is a judgment call. Whose judgment is better, a state patrolman aged 28, with perhaps ten or fifteen minutes of time at speeds over 100 mph, or a nationally licensed SCCA racer with seventy races under his belt and probably ten hours of time not just over 100 mph, but over 100 mph following another car two cars lengths back, with another car or two only one length away? And, as a pilot, I have a number of ratings and licenses which say I can do stuff like this repeatedly and have good and expert judgment. Finally, I used to road race motorcycles and I don't limp.

2) 'following too closely' describes not an instant in time, but a protracted act - say, half a mile or so. Seeing someone at the end of what could be a session like that is not the same as watching it at the end - you can't deduce from the last few seconds that someone was doing this persistently and habitually.

3) Given the above, I decided that using the GPS log track of where I was at an instant in time would be a wonderful way to support the value of the product, illustrate that what I said was the truth, and get the product admitted in court as evidence (I used to be an expert witness about motorcycle accidents when I worked for Honda).

So, I showed up at the appointed date and time with the GPS/AVL receiver, a folder of map printouts from StopLOG showing the recorded track for the day in question, all the literature on the GPS/AVL receiver, my racing records, my pilot records, my top secret clearance from the Air Force and an Honorable Discharge, pictures of the Honda (and previous Honda racecars, and the Jag, just in case anyone cared) , a pocket protector containing several mechanical pencils, two pens, and a small combination flat blade and #0 Phillips screwdriver with which I can disassemble any PC, and a money clip with a nail file and a small penknife ( to cut out interesting articles). I vaguely thought of Arlo Guthrie and 'Alice's Restaurant', and hummed a few bars.

First thing - the metal detectors at the door to the courtroom took away the money clip (in case I went berserk and tried to stab an assistant DA with the nail file), the screwdriver (in case I might try to take apart the courtroom while I was waiting), and the GPS/AVL receiver (in case it might be a bomb - anything electronic is frightening to security guards - but that's another story). I got in with all my papers, however.

Now, in order not to waste anyone's time (!), the assistant DAs look at the tickets and hold a short little conference with each perpetrator to see if they can just plea bargain it out and save the judge some work in case his tee time is early. So I sat down and the DA says 'so, what happened' and I tell her and she says 'GPS/AVL? I've never seen that - show me the maps' and I show her the maps and the drawings, my racing records and how much judgment I have and I'm mad as hell and the color pictures with the circles and arrows and the fifteen pounds of garbage (oops. sorry, that was Alice's Restaurant) and she says 'Well, that's just about what the officer's report says, that you said you were taking evasive action, and so, while I don't generally do this, I'm going to dismiss this case'.

Well.

'You mean I don't get to show this cool GPS/AVL log and the annotated maps which show I didn't do it, and show the pictures of my race car, and talk about how us race drivers are better trained than any old wet behind the ears State Patrolman, and all that, and establish a precedent? Can't I go to court if I want?'

The Assistant DA in all her many months of legal experience had, evidently, never had a client who actually wanted to go to court and said 'Most people will do anything to get out of going before the judge for a traffic violation - is that what you want?'. I said tentatively 'So, how quickly will this happen?' thinking to myself that, notwithstanding how cool it would be to get my device admitted as evidence, this could in fact drag out so long to where GPS/AVL was no longer the current technology and nobody would GET IT (yes, the courts are that slow).

Well, it turned out that this process might take at least another visit or three, put off several months, so I said humbly 'Well, gee, that really is a lot of work, so I guess we'll call it even, if you want to' and picked up my pictures and went to claim my screwdriver. But, there's no question in my mind that, threatened with the prospect of actual evidence contradicting the Policeman's word, they (the DA) didn't want to risk setting the precedent this would create.

Of course, if you WERE speeding the device would show that too, so it's impartial (unless you're a programmer) - but it's comforting to know that if you were doing what you were supposed to (even speeding, but 68mph instead of 72mph) you can document that your position is correct.

So, the long and the short of it is, it's better to spend your time changing plugs is a V12 than whining to the judge that you really didn't do what the State Trooper said you did - and it turns out that when your teenager borrows the car you can play back the entire route on your computer and ask 'So why were you parked at the end of this dead-end road for two hours and then went to 3712 E Mulberry Lane?' Knowledge is power !.