The Daily Item, Sunbury, PA

November 9, 2009

Motorist uses GPS to appeal speeding ticket


ROCHESTER (AP) — A western Pennsylvania man is using a global positioning device in his company vehicle to fight a speeding ticket.

David Riesmeyer, of New Brighton, was ticketed for allegedly driving 64.5 mph in a 50 mph zone in Rochester on June 15. Rochester is in Beaver County, about 25 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.

The officer who ticketed Riesmeyer used a stopwatch-like device to calculate his speed between two painted lines on a roadway. But Riesmeyer says the GPS recorded his speed every three seconds and shows he was driving only 57 mph.

That’s important because state law says a motorist must exceed the speed limit by at least 10 mph to get a ticket, if police aren’t using radar on a road with a speed limit less than 55 mph.