Physicist fights $400 ticket using math, wins

Thursday, 19 April 2012 13:20

News & Events - Engineering News

April 19, 2012

A thorough understanding of physics has many benefits, as one man recently illustrated when he used his advanced knowledge to beat a $400 ticket.

Dmitri Krioukov received a $400 ticket after a police officer said he ran a stop sign. However, Krioukov is a physicist at the University of California, San Diego, and he was determined to fight the ticket, one that he said was unfairly administered. Instead of showing up to court and presenting his case, however, Krioukov fought the ticket in an altogether different manner.

CBS News reports that in an effort to defend himself, Krioukov crafted a four-page paper outlining the circumstances surrounding the incident. He contended that the police officer mistakenly thought he ran a stop sign, arguing in his paper that a number of factors contributed to his issuing the ticket.

Krioukov's paper was replete with equations and graphs, and it highlighted why the police officer wrongly ticketed him. According to the physicist's research report, the police officer was parked roughly 100 feet away from the stop sign that he allegedly ran. The officer, Krioukov asserted, was approximating his angular velocity instead of his linear velocity.

Krioukov essentially argued that a vehicle that had quickly decelerated and then rapidly sped again could appear, from the policeman's perspective, as if it had moved at a steady pace. He said that the police officer's view was obscured, which would have impaired his line of vision, making such an outcome plausible.

In Krioukov's recollection of events, he was driving his Toyota Yaris when, approaching a stop sign, he sneezed. According to the physicist, he stepped on the brakes, but he said the police officer did not observe him doing so because a car obstructed his view. As a result, Krioukov argued that even though he quickly decelerated and re-accelerated, he appeared to merely pass through the stop sign.

Krioukov presented his findings when he fought the ticket in court, according to the news provider. The math-heavy study worked, according to Physics Central. The judge presiding over the case sided with Krioukov.

"The judge was convinced, and the officer was convinced as well," according to Krioukov.