GPS vs. Radar: It's Not Over Yet

July 18, 2008

The case of a Northern California teen using GPS data from a tracking device to fight a $190 speeding ticket has moved from traffic court to Sonoma County (Calif.) Superior Court, as the teen's family fights the original ruling in favor of police.

On July 4, 2007, Petaluma, Calif., police clocked Shaun Malone traveling at 62 mph in a zone posted 45 mph. Petaluma is in Sonoma County, which lies in Northern California wine country, about an hour or so north of San Francisco. Malone, 17 at the time, and his parents contend he wasn't speeding, however, citing GPS data from a Rocky Mountain Tracking device they had installed in his car to monitor his driving.

A judge in the original traffic court case, which was conducted entirely via written affidavit, ruled in favor of police. Now Malone's family is appealing in Sonoma County Superior Court; the trial got underway July 11, according to report in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat (Santa Rosa is the county seat of Sonoma County).

The case has garnered national attention for its potential to set a precedent. In testimony since the trial began, Rocky Mountain Tracking, the maker of the tracking device at the center of the case, says that an expert originally hired by the prosecution to file an affidavit in the traffic court proceedings, actually testified on the stand in superior court as to the efficacy of its device.

Stephen Heppe, cited as a technical expert, had filed a written report affirming that, going by the GPS data, Malone had to have been traveling faster than 45 mph, according to Rocky Mountain Tracking. While testifying later in the superior court trial, Heppe said that the tracking device in question was accurate to within a couple of meters on location and to within 1 mph on speed, however, according to the company. Heppe also observed in court that the GPS device released instantaneous data, and not data averaged over a distance, Rocky Mountain Tracking said.

"This case has caught the attention of the nation, and it will set a precedent on how police departments use speed traps in the face of an increased GPS presence," said Brad Borst, founder and president of Rocky Mountain Tracking. "The accuracy and reliability of GPS has helped bring this important issue into the limelight."

Also at issue, according to the Press Democrat, is whether or not the road on which Malone received his ticket serves as an illegal speed trap, as Malone's family contends.