The metro police officer who caught former Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi for alleged speeding told the Edenvale Magistrate's Court on Wednesday that he had to measure the speed twice.

Officer Lawrence Smears told the court that that they measured the speed of a silver-grey Audi Q7 on the R24 road in October last year.

"I measured the speed twice. The first test, the car was traveling at 178km/h in a 120km/h zone," he said.

Smears said that when he did the second test, the car was traveling at 182km/h.

"I saw the car picking up speed and then I communicated with the stopper car about 900 metres away from me to stop the right car traveling towards," he said.

Smears said that after showing Vavi the speed on the machine he said: "You are killing me."

"When I asked him why he made this remark, he said he is rushing to catch a flight," he said.

Vavi was arrested on Sunday, October 4, for speeding on the R24 in Edenvale, Ekurhuleni.

Vavi pleaded not guilty to the charges of reckless and negligent driving, and speeding.

Smears said he observed while his colleague did three tests, before they used the speed measuring device.

"We have done a horizontal and vertical scope line test, as well as a zero velocity test and all these tests were successful," he said.

However, defense attorney Paul Jorgensen said that Smears could not confirm that Vavi was speeding if he hadn't done the test himself.

"You can't say that he was speeding... [when] the test was done by your colleague and not by you," Jorgensen said.

Smears said: "Guidelines are there for me as an operator to adhere [to]. You need to ask the trained technicians these questions."

When asked by Jorgensen what the red light on the machine indicated, Smears could not answer.

Source: News24