Monday, April 23, 2012

USA - Calif. scientist uses physics to dodge ticket.......

OFF THE WIRE
http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/
SAN DIEGO (AP) — A University of California San Diego scientist was able to use his math and physics knowledge to argue his way out of a $400 traffic ticket.
In a paper titled "The Proof of Innocence," senior research scientist Dmitri Krioukov successfully appealed his failure-to-stop ticket by explaining that he may have appeared to an officer that he didn't stop when he actually did, according to the Los Angeles Times (http://lat.ms/I5ZCUw ).
"All you need to know is classical mechanics and a little bit of geometry," Krioukov told the Times.
The calculations were very simple and took five to ten minutes, and writing the four-page paper took a few hours, Krioukov said.
The time spent on the paper was a minor inconvenience considering the cost of a lawyer and the ticket, he said.
According to Krioukov's calculations, a car moving at a constant speed can appear to move in the same way as a car that is moving quickly and briefly stops before accelerating again.
Krioukov also told the judge that a campus building obstructed the officer's view of the incident.
The scientist posted his paper online for any other motorists who may be accused of running a stop sign.

Physics paper wasn't why traffic ticket was tossed....
Science-over-ticket tale debunked .......
SAN DIEGO -- A San Diego court commissioner is denying that a scientist's physics paper had anything to do with her dismissing his $200 traffic ticket.
News outlets reported this week that Dmitri Krioukov of the University of California, San Diego, used an equation-filled paper on the physics of a car in motion to successfully appeal a ticket for failure to stop.
Superior Court Commissioner Karen Riley says that's not true. She tells U-T San Diego ( http://bit.ly/HTiXOk) that she listened to the physics argument but much of it went over her head.
Riley says she found Krioukov not guilty because the officer who cited him wasn't close enough to the intersection to have a good view.
Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2012/04/20/2807386/physics-paper-wasnt-why-traffic.html#storylink=cpy
Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2012/04/20/2807386/physics-paper-wasnt-why-traffic.html#storylink=cpy