Are radar detectors still relevant?

[zanemoseley]

Just got a speeding ticket recently, 45 in a dumb 30. Also going to drive 9 hours to New Orleans at the end of the month for a cruise. I'm considering buying a decent radar detector (Beltronics RX65-red gets 4.3 stars on Amazon for under $130).

I don't hear of as many people using them anymore though. I know laser is in use a bit more but seems a lot of cops still use radar. With laser even once it's detected you're usually screwed.

So are they still worth getting?

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[dave_the_nerd]

You could just try not breaking the law. Or at least doing so responsibly (<10 over on highways, <5 over on city streets.)

If you have a "dumb 30" or other poorly marked speed trap, Waze will tell you when you are speeding.

Laser is rapidly displacing radar.

 

[lxskllr]

Mine's still in my parked jeep. I wouldn't mind using it, but not enough to remount it I guess. Regardless of what speed I'm doing, I like to know where cops are. Also, at least in MD, laser isn't used that much. Laser means the cop has to get out of the car and actively do something. That's not as desireable as grabbing low hanging fruit. I'm more interested in defeating license plate readers, but I don't know how.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

I still find my Valentine One useful, though I have less trouble with LEOs here in Dallas than back in Iowa
(got pulled over for doing 28 in a 25, I sh*t you not - small town LEOs have nothing better to do)

 

[KentState]

Still use mine and at least the radar detection has alerted me enough times to be worth it. There are plenty of roads around here where it's not possible to sit back and hit people with laser so radar is used.

 

[SKORPI0]

No reason to use one. It's convenient for speeders so they can slow down and avoid a ticket.

Any legit reason why you were driving 45 mph on a 30 mph zone? There's a reason for that, it's called safety.

 

[zanemoseley]

Man some of you guys sound like a bunch of sheep. I like to think I can safely gauge my speed without relying entirely on some arbitrary numbers someone came up with 50 years ago.

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[Zorba]

No reason to use one. It's convenient for speeders so they can slow down and avoid a ticket.

Any legit reason why you were driving 45 mph on a 30 mph zone? There's a reason for that, it's called safety.

Most speed limits are set by politicians, not traffic engineers.

 

[SKORPI0]

Most speed limits are set by politicians, not traffic engineers.

They set, but they don't decide..the drivers living in that area do.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/transportation/back-seat-driver/article34268358.html
Who decides speed limits? Here’s the surprising answer

The answer is complex. Like it or not, drivers often get to vote with their gas pedal foot.
State law requires cities to measure the speeds that drivers travel on certain – but notably not all – streets, and use the results to adjust speed limits. The streets where local officials are required to do “speed surveys” are known in the traffic engineer lingo as collectors and arterials.
An arterial is a big street, typically four lanes, such as Joiner Parkway in Lincoln, Watt Avenue in Sacramento County, or Folsom Boulevard in Rancho Cordova. Collector streets are typically two-lane streets that take traffic from a residential area to an arterial.
When traffic engineers do their surveys, they are told to disregard the speeds of the fastest 15 percent of drivers on that street during free-flow traffic conditions. That’s because the law figures those people are probably driving too fast.
Some drivers are going too slow, as well. So the law says: Look at the speed that drivers near the 85th percentile are going, and set the limit there. That speed, engineers point out, is one standard deviation about the average speed for all cars on the road. Put another way, it’s a speed that is considered reasonable, given what’s actually happening each day on that street.
So, “the speed limits are really set by the drivers, not by the city or city council,” Lincoln city engineer Ray Leftwich says. “What speed does the driver feel comfortable traveling? That is what the road can accommodate.”

Another article.

Who sets speed limits and how are they decided?

Our elected officials set the speed limits, but how do they decide what is appropriate?
A city or county council will look to input from its citizens and expertise from engineers. Once the traffic engineer presents the results of the study to the city or county council, the council evaluates the report, along with public input. If the desire of a citizen or group of citizens is in conflict with the recommendations of the traffic study, the council has to weigh the input and make a decision. This brings us back to where we started, with science and politics. Ultimately, both the engineering research and the will of the people determine the speed limits for our roads.

 

[HarryLui]

Man some of you guys sound like a bunch of sheep. I like to think I can safely gauge my speed without relying entirely on some arbitrary numbers someone came up with 50 years ago.

Enjoy your tickets.

 

[jlee]

They set, but they don't decide..the drivers living in that area do.
Who decides speed limits? Here’s the surprising answer


Another article.

Who sets speed limits and how are they decided?

That is far from universally true. Look at Waldo, FL: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/florida-town-infamous-for-speed-traps-disbanding-police-force/

 

[Yuriman]

At least around here, I've found that driving the speed limits often feels about right for the roads. We have a lot of pot-holed and busted country roads, which weave around hills and on the sides of mountains, and often going 10 or even 5 over is rather terrifying.

 

[jlee]

At least around here, I've down that driving the speed limits often feels about right for the roads. We have a lot of pot-holed and busted country roads, which weave around hills and on the sides of mountains, and often going 10 or even 5 over is rather terrifying.

The variance is somewhat surprising, isn't it? Normal traffic on Route 15 in CT is often 70-80mph, with a typical range of maybe 65-90mph (limit 55).

 

[Yakk]

Mine's still in my parked jeep. I wouldn't mind using it, but not enough to remount it I guess. Regardless of what speed I'm doing, I like to know where cops are. Also, at least in MD, laser isn't used that much. Laser means the cop has to get out of the car and actively do something. That's not as desireable as grabbing low hanging fruit. I'm more interested in defeating license plate readers, but I don't know how.

There are flash plate surrounds which flash as the camera flashes to take a picture, but I haven't seen them sold, just self made.

 

[Meghan54]

This was one supposed-to-work solution for license plate photo cameras....

https://www.phantomplate.com/


As far as radar detectors, used to use them, back when Valentine first came out...was using an Escort before I picked up one of those.

That was quite a while ago....today, I just don't speed like I used to and, hence, have no need for a detector.

 

[Raizinman]

Newer cars use the K-band with their blind spot detection. With my Escort Passport I remember trying to pass a car and each time I would get into its blind spot my radar detector would go crazy. The newer detectors have a means to correct this.

 

[Elganja]

i use a combination of waze and an escort redline detector. it's still useful at times, esp the KA band which is almost always a license plate reader/cop

like one poster mentioned, K band is rather annoying with all the blind spot systems... it's gotten so bad to the point where i disabled that band on my radar detector

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Newer cars use the K-band with their blind spot detection. With my Escort Passport I remember trying to pass a car and each time I would get into its blind spot my radar detector would go crazy. The newer detectors have a means to correct this.

I'm not so worried about K, more Ka, and certainly not X.
Of course, when the laser detector lights up, you're pretty much always boned

 

[mindless1]

In many areas, attempts to obscure the plate so the camera can't read it, are illegal, even if you don't get caught using it to avoid one.

About speeding, I would just go the same speed as everyone else. It's not foolproof, but IMO safer than going the limit and being a traffic bottleneck. When nobody else is around, slow down to near the limit and enjoy the higher fuel economy, though personally if I drive too slow, it doesn't give me enough sensory feedback and I'm more likely to fall asleep unless I find some activity to do like focusing on cars and landscape. Radio turned up some helps but I don't want it that loud for that long.

 

[agent00f]

Just got a speeding ticket recently, 45 in a dumb 30. Also going to drive 9 hours to New Orleans at the end of the month for a cruise. I'm considering buying a decent radar detector (Beltronics RX65-red gets 4.3 stars on Amazon for under $130).

I don't hear of as many people using them anymore though. I know laser is in use a bit more but seems a lot of cops still use radar. With laser even once it's detected you're usually screwed.

So are they still worth getting?

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Seems pretty obvious that they're useful in areas where the cops use radar. For example around where I live it's mostly KA so detection is spot on.

For laser you'll need a jammer. They work, but aren't necessarily legal.

 

[jdoggg12]

Relevant video... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BKdbxX1pDw&feature=youtu.be

 

[Ns1]

ITT: scofflaws

 

[FuzzyDunlop]

Radar detectors work great in my area. Right Jlee?