Professional/Forensic Analysis of Dash Cam Video Footage

Hello Oz Bargain community!

I’m hoping someone here might be able to assist. Here’s my story that leads to the topic post subject…

A little while back I was driving on a highway in north west Victoria. I regularly travel on this highway and know both the road and speed limits well. The speed limit was 100km and I was travelling at 100km. I had overtaken a couple of cars in the right hand (overtaking) lane and stayed in that lane as I knew it soon merged back into a single lane before approaching an oncoming town. Not long after this, I noticed a van in my rear vision mirror that seemingly appeared from nowhere and was right up my backside. I commented at the time to my wife (travelling with me in the passenger seat) “There is a car right up my a*se”. The van then zoomed into the left lane, passed me on the left (undertaking) and sped off into the distance. I commented at the time “Wow, that car is massively speeding”…

As I was approaching the small country town (by then speed limit had reduced to 80 and then 60), I noticed a police car in my rear vision mirror with its lights on. Initially I thought it was to make way to chase the van which could still be seen in the distance, speeding through the country town. But, alas, the police car was there to pull me over. And so I pulled over…

The police officer said he had pulled me over for speeding further back on the highway “over a crest”. I advised he had the wrong person/car and that the speeding person was a van that had also just sped through the 60km limit of the local town (pointing with my finger in the same direction of the van).

The police officer ignored this and proceeded to ask me questions along the lines of “Why were you speeding?”, of which I answered along the lines “I wasn’t speeding, you have the wrong person, the speed you’ve detected is from a speeding van that appeared from nowhere and was right up my backside, I have both a witness and dash cam footage to corroborate, would you like to see this?”…

One thing led to another (including a breath test of which I blew 0) but essentially the police officer was sure he had his man. I think he simply did not want to admit he was wrong after the excitement of turning around on the highway and pulling over the car he was sure his dash radar had detected. He seemed determined to book me, despite my protest and despite my offer of evidence to the contrary. He did not to ask my wife a single question regarding my story and did not even record her details for his notes.

I later reviewed my dash cam footage in detail and sure enough: at the exact same time a speeding van appeared from nowhere, tailgated me and then passed on the left; a police car travelling in the opposite direction, appears in the distance, over a crest, and puts its lights on. If I didn’t have the dash cam footage to corroborate, this story would be hard to believe.

I rang the station the following day and spoke to the station’s Sergeant. I explained the unique situation and again offered to provide my dash cam footage. But, alas, after waiting another day, the Sergeant called me back and advised he would not intervene as he had spoken to the officer, who was confident of the charge, plus also advised the ticket “had already been processed”.

More than two weeks later, I finally received the ticket in the mail (therefore not sure if the ticket “had already been processed” at the time but’s that a separate matter).

I requested a review of the matter via the process Civic Compliance allows for, including providing a timeline/breakdown of the unique abovementioned circumstances, printed screenshots and video footage uploaded to YouTube. After waiting ~ 2 months for a response, alas, my review was rejected.

I know I was not speeding. I have a witness and dash cam footage of what occurred. And so I have advised Civic Compliance that I wish to progress the matter to the Magistrates Court.

I have the entire journey for that morning - from leaving home, right up until being pulled over - recorded on my dash cam. In preparing for my matter, I’m now looking for a business or consultant that can provide professional forensic video analysis of travel times & speed estimations based on recorded footage. Such businesses exist in the UK (I’ve been in touch with one) however I’m looking for something local. Does anyone out there know anything about this topic to possibly point me in the right direction?

Thanks Oz Bargain community!

PS: Given what has happened to me, I upgraded my dash cam to a Viofo with the GPS module, and have added a Viofo to the rear of my car as well. Next time, I will have even better footage!