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A biker was caught driving at 150mph on a Devon road after being filmed by a speed measuring device so accurate it is used by Nasa, a court was told.
Oliver Marriott, 21, from Saltash, was stopped by police on the A38 near Plymouth in December 2008, Plymouth Crown Court heard.
A traffic officer told the jury he was convinced there would be an accident.
Mr Marriott denies dangerous driving, claiming the speed device produced a false reading.
The jury were shown video which they were told was of Mr Marriott, a pasty factory worker, on his green 636cc Kawasaki ZX motorcycle.
They were told traffic enforcement officer Pc David Williams had to use his specialist training as a police marksman in order to line up the speed measuring device on the motorbike’s number plate long enough to get a reading.
‘Fastest vehicle’
Pc Williams said: “I looked through the lens and when he came into view I pressed the trigger and recorded a speed of 150mph at a distance of 265m.
“As he approached a van… I thought he was going to collide with the rear of the vehicle.
“In 13 years as a traffic officer it was the fastest vehicle I have ever recorded.”
Mr Marriott admitted being the bike’s rider when he was stopped by police, but said he had only been driving at around 90mph.
He claimed the police equipment was calibrated wrongly or produced a false reading.
But Steven Langdon, a retired police officer, told the court that the device used to record Mr Marriott’s speed, known as a Speedscope, was also used by Nasa to dock its space stations.
He said the Speedscope in question was calibrated in the correct way and gave accurate readings up to a distance of 1,000m.
The trial continues.
Source:
https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/8620403.stmUpdate:
man from Cornwall has admitted speeding at 150mph (241km/h) on a motorbike in Devon.Oliver Marriot, 21, from Saltash, was caught by a mobile speed camera on the A38 near Plymouth in December 2008.
Marriot had denied the charges before a trial at Plymouth Crown Court but changed his plea, admitting dangerous driving and having no insurance.
He was jailed for 23 weeks – suspended for two years – and ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid community work.
The pasty factory worker was also banned from driving for two years.
‘Worst of any case’
Marriott was filmed riding his green 636cc Kawasaki ZX bike as it sped past cars between Marsh Mills and Deep Lane.
Judge Francis Gilbert QC said the speeding was the “worst of any case in any court in the West Country”.
He said Marriott was an inexperienced rider who had only passed his test to ride 125cc machines two weeks earlier.
The bike he was riding was more than five times as powerful.
Marriott had only owned the £4,800 machine for about a month before the incident. The bike was later written off and he is still paying off the cost.
Marriott’s hearing on Monday was a retrial. At his first trial in April, a jury failed to agree a verdict after deliberating for five hours.
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