Why are radar detectors legal/illegal?

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spidey07

No Lifer
Aug 4, 2000
65,469
5
76
Originally posted by: SlitheryDee
Originally posted by: spidey07
Originally posted by: Aluvus
Originally posted by: videogames101
So If i slow down because i DID detect residue radar with a detector, well the cop has done his job. I've slowed down, and neither cop nor me has wasted any of our valuable time. Either way i slow down, but in reality, a radar detector helps law enforcement by saving them time. It enforces the law without having to pull the car over.

"His job" is not to get you to slow down briefly and then resume driving 80 miles an hour.

Actually it is. "His job" is to keep the roadways safe. If a patrolman is gunning somebody he's doing it to slow down traffic and ticket people. Normally this is because of accidents.

So Aluvus slowed down, probably slowing others down around him. Cop basically did his job without pulling anybody over.

win-win.

So once you feel that you're safely out of his range and resume autobahn speeds you're not violating the law? The cop made the roads safer for a stretch of a few miles and that's certainly better than none at all, but the point is that you should be driving the speed limit anyway.

My reply would completely derail the thread so I'll just say that I'm all for helping officers keep the roadways safe.
 

FallenHero

Diamond Member
Jan 2, 2006
5,659
0
0
Originally posted by: Captante
Originally posted by: Aluvus
Originally posted by: videogames101
So If i slow down because i DID detect residue radar with a detector, well the cop has done his job. I've slowed down, and neither cop nor me has wasted any of our valuable time. Either way i slow down, but in reality, a radar detector helps law enforcement by saving them time. It enforces the law without having to pull the car over.

"His job" is not to get you to slow down briefly and then resume driving 80 miles an hour.


Correct ... the job of a radar-enforcement unit is to bring in revenue for the town/state that pays his salery.

If the goal was really to control the speed people drove, there are MUCH more effective methods of going about it which don't involve issuing citations, however they don't help finance the annual budget.

I would LOVE to hear these means.
 

spidey07

No Lifer
Aug 4, 2000
65,469
5
76
Originally posted by: FallenHero
Originally posted by: Captante
Originally posted by: Aluvus
Originally posted by: videogames101
So If i slow down because i DID detect residue radar with a detector, well the cop has done his job. I've slowed down, and neither cop nor me has wasted any of our valuable time. Either way i slow down, but in reality, a radar detector helps law enforcement by saving them time. It enforces the law without having to pull the car over.

"His job" is not to get you to slow down briefly and then resume driving 80 miles an hour.


Correct ... the job of a radar-enforcement unit is to bring in revenue for the town/state that pays his salery.

If the goal was really to control the speed people drove, there are MUCH more effective methods of going about it which don't involve issuing citations, however they don't help finance the annual budget.

I would LOVE to hear these means.

Me as well. What are these other means other than enforcement?

The interstate i drive every day had a string of really bad accidents on a particular 10 mile stretch. Enforcement signs, radar signs (the portable units that flash your speed at you) and troopers were all over it afterwards.

You know what? Since then there haven't been any really bad road closing accidents like there used to be.

Seriously, the cops aren't out to get you. Their goal is to keep the road safe. To protect and serve.
 

Alistar7

Lifer
May 13, 2002
11,978
0
0
Caught a radio show one morning with a guest that had written a book on how to beat traffic tickets. He pointed out that in the case of speed traps most people, especially those that are speeding, will notice the patrol car and then quickly look away and try to slow down. According to him that adds to the impression of guilt, and he suggested trying a different approach. Apparently off duty cops, when faced with the same situation, will lock eyes with the officer running the speed trap and give them a nod as if to say hello. An informal yet widely accepted practice that in theory implies you are another officer. But does it work?

During one of my many trips back & forth between Cleveland, Oh and Charlotte, NC I got the chance to find out. S/O and her son were sleeping in the car, I was taking advantage of the open, empty road and clipping along doing about 85 in a 70 zone. Came over the top of a hill and lo and behold there is Porky waiting. I saw him quickly look downward at his now screaming radar gun, and look back up at me while reaching for his gear selector. Remember that radio show I fought the natural urge to look away and slow down. I locked my eyes into his, gave him a nod and a salute, then mashed the pedal down blowing by him doing @ 95mph. He nodded back, waved, and didn't even pull out to pursue lol.



 

Captante

Lifer
Oct 20, 2003
30,340
10,859
136
Originally posted by: FallenHero
Originally posted by: Captante
Originally posted by: Aluvus
Originally posted by: videogames101
So If i slow down because i DID detect residue radar with a detector, well the cop has done his job. I've slowed down, and neither cop nor me has wasted any of our valuable time. Either way i slow down, but in reality, a radar detector helps law enforcement by saving them time. It enforces the law without having to pull the car over.

"His job" is not to get you to slow down briefly and then resume driving 80 miles an hour.


Correct ... the job of a radar-enforcement unit is to bring in revenue for the town/state that pays his salery.

If the goal was really to control the speed people drove, there are MUCH more effective methods of going about it which don't involve issuing citations, however they don't help finance the annual budget.

I would LOVE to hear these means.



I should have further specified limited access highways & the easiest thing to do would be to simply have patrol units traveling at roughly 5 mph over the speed limit every few miles like a pace-car ... make it simple, pass the pace car & receive a ticket in the mail. Patrol units could then be freed up to go after reckless/erratic drivers & in fact the pace cars could easily be driven by none-officers who pull in substantially less money per hour.

Late at night or when traffic is very light speed limits should be adjusted to a more realistic 75mph which would result in most people not speeding. (US highways were designed with this limit in mind & objective studies show it will not increase fatalities)

Both these ideas took me about 10 seconds to come up with & with some fine-tuning could work, but they arn't likely to happen because they cut in to ticket-generated revenue which is a very significant amount of money ... unlike many I don't blame Patrol officers for this, but claiming otherwise is just plain inaccurate.


Also one point its impossible to argue is that current methods are completely ineffective at enforcing speed limits (at least in NY/NJ/CT) ... the only times traffic around here travels anywhere near the posted limit is when theres a Patrol unit riding along the highway within sight (or if drivers know theres one nearby ) ... the rest of the time it travels between 70 & 80 mph. (not counting rush-hour when its stopped half the time)


On two-lane local roads, especially in rural areas radar patrol units are often the only effective way to enforce speed limits, but even then its seeing the patrol unit that slows people down more then anything else.
 

videogames101

Diamond Member
Aug 24, 2005
6,783
27
91
Originally posted by: Alistar7
Caught a radio show one morning with a guest that had written a book on how to beat traffic tickets. He pointed out that in the case of speed traps most people, especially those that are speeding, will notice the patrol car and then quickly look away and try to slow down. According to him that adds to the impression of guilt, and he suggested trying a different approach. Apparently off duty cops, when faced with the same situation, will lock eyes with the officer running the speed trap and give them a nod as if to say hello. An informal yet widely accepted practice that in theory implies you are another officer. But does it work?

During one of my many trips back & forth between Cleveland, Oh and Charlotte, NC I got the chance to find out. S/O and her son were sleeping in the car, I was taking advantage of the open, empty road and clipping along doing about 85 in a 70 zone. Came over the top of a hill and lo and behold there is Porky waiting. I saw him quickly look downward at his now screaming radar gun, and look back up at me while reaching for his gear selector. Remember that radio show I fought the natural urge to look away and slow down. I locked my eyes into his, gave him a nod and a salute, then mashed the pedal down blowing by him doing @ 95mph. He nodded back, waved, and didn't even pull out to pursue lol.

lol?
 

legoman666

Diamond Member
Dec 18, 2003
3,628
1
0
Originally posted by: Captante
Originally posted by: FallenHero
Originally posted by: Captante
Originally posted by: Aluvus
Originally posted by: videogames101
So If i slow down because i DID detect residue radar with a detector, well the cop has done his job. I've slowed down, and neither cop nor me has wasted any of our valuable time. Either way i slow down, but in reality, a radar detector helps law enforcement by saving them time. It enforces the law without having to pull the car over.

"His job" is not to get you to slow down briefly and then resume driving 80 miles an hour.


Correct ... the job of a radar-enforcement unit is to bring in revenue for the town/state that pays his salery.

If the goal was really to control the speed people drove, there are MUCH more effective methods of going about it which don't involve issuing citations, however they don't help finance the annual budget.

I would LOVE to hear these means.



I should have further specified limited access highways & the easiest thing to do would be to simply have patrol units traveling at roughly 5 mph over the speed limit every few miles like a pace-car ... make it simple, pass the pace car & receive a ticket in the mail. Patrol units could then be freed up to go after reckless/erratic drivers & in fact the pace cars could easily be driven by none-officers who pull in substantially less money per hour.

Late at night or when traffic is very light speed limits should be adjusted to a more realistic 75mph which would result in most people not speeding. (US highways were designed with this limit in mind & objective studies show it will not increase fatalities)

Both these ideas took me about 10 seconds to come up with & with some fine-tuning could work, but they arn't likely to happen because they cut in to ticket-generated revenue which is a very significant amount of money ... unlike many I don't blame Patrol officers for this, but claiming otherwise is just plain inaccurate.


Also one point its impossible to argue is that current methods are completely ineffective at enforcing speed limits (at least in NY/NJ/CT) ... the only times traffic around here travels anywhere near the posted limit is when theres a Patrol unit riding along the highway within sight (or if drivers know theres one nearby ) ... the rest of the time it travels between 70 & 80 mph. (not counting rush-hour when its stopped half the time)


On two-lane local roads, especially in rural areas radar patrol units are often the only effective way to enforce speed limits, but even then its seeing the patrol unit that slows people down more then anything else.

I think the pace car idea is sound. Whenever I'm speeding down the highway at 75-80 in a 65 zone and come up behind a cop doing 72, you can be damn sure I'm not going to pass him.