LEGAL ISSUES RAISED BY ORBIS, A MOTOR VEHICLE SPEED DETECTION DEVICE TAKING PHOTOS OF SPEEDERS

The report reviews the legal basis for certain potential challenges to the use of unmanned mechanical devices which (a) detect motor vehicles exceeding predetermined speed limits, and (b) photograph both the front portion of these vehicles and the faces of their drivers and passengers. In particular, the report is focused on the operation of Orbis, a member of this class of speed-detection devices manufactured by the Boeing Corporation. Three aspects of the device's legality are discussed: (1) the question of whether its operation violates individuals' rights of 'privacy' as protected by the Federal Constitution, State statutes, and common-law precedents; (2) the issue to unlawful inequities in traffic-law enforcement, resulting from the device's operational limitations, which permit some speeders to pass by undetected; and (3) the admissibility into evidence in speeding presecutions of photographs taken by device.

• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Systems Center

  55 Broadway, Kendall Square
  Cambridge, MA  United States  02142
• Authors:
  • Glater, D
• Publication Date: 1973-12

Media Info

• Pagination: 48 p.

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00052208
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: DOT-TSC-NHTSA-73-10 Intrm Rpt
• Files: NTIS
• Created Date: Apr 26 1974 12:00AM