Radar Detectors

[grumman581]

I could care less how long it takes me to get anywhere. I also don't have or need a cell phone or GPS

GPS is convenient for when you are in a new city or just as a replacement for printed maps. I don't like a GPS telling me where to go. I'm perfectly happy with it just showing me where I'm at and letting me figure out the route myself.

[Down South]

I made a post to this thread a page or two back one evening when I was tired and failed to explain myself well.
I have used a Valentine One for 10 years, even sent the old one back in a few years ago and got the upgraded version.
I drive within a speed limit that usually keeps most LEO's happy, about 5 mph over the limit.
I have to drive across our wonderful country where I find many small towns that make their living from the roads that pass through their communities.
My radar detector many times will warn me of a radar trap ahead and allows me to double check my speed well before I get into range of the radar unit.
I have not gotten a speeding ticket in at least 20 years.
The on/off radar only works if you and the officer are the only ones on the road. I usually bust the on/off radar well before I get to it because I've caught the radar checking many times at least half a dozen others before I'm shot.
That's another good time to check my speed to make sure I'm within the smiley limit.
Going through some of the small towns, I'm many times preoccupied with thoughts of work, family, other going ons along the highway. Sometimes I miss a change in speed zones such as coming off a 65 to a 50 to a 45 to a 35. These intermediate speed zones are where the likely traps are set. I may miss a speed reduction sign due to clutter of other signs or just happen to be looking at the other side of the road for a moment.
I never drive at excessive speed regardless of where I'm at.
I can say that my detector has saved my butt more that once. Used responsibly a radar detector can be your friend, not a tool to use to drive at speeds that far exceed the posted limits.
Plus, it's a lot of fun. Pick up a radar signal and figure out where the radar is hiding. The Valentine One shows you the direction that the signal/s are coming from and how many they are and which direction poses the most threat or strongest signal plus what band of radar is being used.

If you purchase a radar detector, don't do it so you can drive at breakneck speeds. You will surely get caught or worse, cause an accident.

I have a strong dislike for speed trap towns that enjoy being able to write citations for sometimes 1 mph over the limit. I've read or heard the news more than a few times of these towns finally getting busted due to the officials padding their pockets with the monies they robbed from unsuspecting motorist passing through. They change their speed limits up and down through their community to help fool or trick the motorist. It is a shame and I do my best to avoid their snares.

On the GPS, I would have a hard time without one. Many times I have to travel to an address that I have never been too. Sometimes the GPS might take me a way that I would not have chosen if I had known the way but it gets me there.
Another plus about the GPS that I use. It displays the posted speed and many times it is correct but sometimes it is not so I have to take the posted speed on the GPS with a grain of salt.

[mtnman31]

I admit I have a lead foot. I enjoy driving fast. On the open roads I drive in a spirited fashion. In residential areas I drive cautiously, no reason to endanger anyone. I have had a radar detector for years. As was mentioned earlier, it isn't a pass to do whatever you want - it is a tool. Combined with your eyes, knowledge of the area and common sense, it can keep you out of trouble if you choose to speed. Often I'll see a police car before the detector goes off. Or, knowing areas that police are likely to set up is a key part of their use. There is a learning curve with them. You need to figure out what signals are legitimate and which are just interference. If you are in town, there is a lot more interference. The laser detecting feature is more or less marketing. Since laser is nearly instantaneous and there aren't really any stray laser beams to set off the detector, it pretty much lets you know you are busted and about to receive a ticket.

One thing that the detector has enlightened me to, very few police cars I encounter are using radar or laser. If I had to make a SWAG at it, I'd bet less than 20% of the cars I encounter are running radar or laser. That's been experience from at least a decade of continuous detector use in a variety of states.

In defense of speeders and my own personal driving habits - driving fast is like anything else in life. The more you do it the better you get at it. I would contend that someone who knows what their vehicle is capable of as well as the limits of their own driving skills, not to mention is alert and assertive is much safer than the average person putzing along. My wife's driving drives me crazy. She is slow and inattentive. It's not that she is distracted (as in cell phone, texting, etc), just not observant. Ironically, even though she drives MUCH more conservatively than me, she has twice as many tickets. She's says I am aggressive. Nope, I just like driving fast. I don't own a muscle car, sports car and motorcycle because I like the way they look. I like that they can go fast.

For anyone interested in improving their skills, I'd recommend a trip to a race track (road course) for an open lapping day. It is both highly educational and very humbling. If a guy thinks he knows how to drive that 'vette or Stang (or motorcycle) fast? Wait until a guy who really understands performance driving starts running laps around you... in his Chevy Cobalt. Take your car to the track and wring it out so you know what it can/can't do and not just from a performance stand point - from a safety stand point. It is important to know what you and your vehicle can/can't do in an emergency situation or inclement weather.

re: the original post, I'm very happy with my current Beltronics RX65. I got it off eBay at a good price. One of these days I'd like to get a newer model but would rather spend the money elsewhere for now. If you are going to shop eBay, be cautious of the sellers as there are a few selling gray market knock offs and junk.

[Bret4207]

I don't think I'm letting out any "trade secrets" by posting this, but you may find it interesting.

Not all cars are running radar all the time. I don't know how it is elsewhere, but I was usually so far behind in paperwork or in interviews or on my way here or there or going to a complaint that radar was the last thing on my mind. I imagine since it's about the same for a lot of other PO's. You don't get a hit off their radar because it's off. OTOH, when I was looking to write some tickets to make the bean counters happy, I wouldn't run it on all the time or hit every car. You look for the speeder, not the guy going 5 or 10 over, the guy doing 20-40 over. That's the one you hit.

[Down South]

I don't think I'm letting out any "trade secrets" by posting this, but you may find it interesting.

Not all cars are running radar all the time. I don't know how it is elsewhere, but I was usually so far behind in paperwork or in interviews or on my way here or there or going to a complaint that radar was the last thing on my mind. I imagine since it's about the same for a lot of other PO's. You don't get a hit off their radar because it's off. OTOH, when I was looking to write some tickets to make the bean counters happy, I wouldn't run it on all the time or hit every car. You look for the speeder, not the guy going 5 or 10 over, the guy doing 20-40 over. That's the one you hit.

Same thing I see. I was on the road for five hrs yesterday. Three state trooper units sitting in the median or on the side of the road with their radar off. Sure does slow the traffic down though. 50 vehicles will slow down to 60 in a 70 zone.
I meet units all the time with their radar off.

[Crash_Corrigan]

For a short time I was a Lieutenant in a small village in New Mexico. We had some serious accident rates and a high number of people being thrown out of their vehicles and suffering very severe injuries and most of them were alcohol related. We had some obsolete pre owned radar units from the NMSP and I picked out one. I got it tested and I trained up on it.

Just like Bret said above.....my threshold was at least 15 mph over the limit unless the driver was doing something else stupid. I always went after stupid. One day a fella is driving down the road very slow. He was driving an old clunker on 4 rims.....no rubber at all. I took photos at the time and when he pled not guilty in court I produced them. He lost. If I stopped a young driver speeding I usually did not issue a ticket. The financial penalties involved with a younger driver getting a speeding ticket are like a fly being smacked with a sledgehammer. It costs thousands of dollars in higher insurance premiums down the road.

In those cases I would take the drivers license, registration and insurance card and keep them. I would advise the driver to have one of his parents call me and I would happy to meet with them and discuss driving habits. At that meeting I would explain my reasoning and return the items to the parent. In almost all cases I had a meeting of the minds with the parents and no ticket was issued.

Between a proactive campaign against drunk driving (we posted units near bars and stopped our local drunks and visitors every day) and speed limit enforcement we enjoyed a rapid decline in our accident rates. We only had two establishments which sold booze so it was common sense to post units close but not obviously and to carefully observe the patrons of these fine drinking and dining shops on their way home.

I even had a wife call me and ask me to stop her husband from killing himself or another with his drunk driving. She told me where he could be found and when he normally would get home and begged me to arrest him so he would stop drinking.....sure.

Anyway I checked him out and followed him home. He was sneaky but intoxicated. I did not stop him the first night. I nosed around to make sure that the intentions of the spouse were pure as she may have had other reasons to see him incarcerated and I did not want to be used as a tool for her purposes unless I felt that this was a best way to handle it. I checked out his reputation in the drinking establishment and in the village in general. This went on for a few days and one evening I visited him in the joint. He had just arrived from work and was settling in with a 16 oz adult beverage and a shot of Irish Whisky. I pulled up a barstool and started a conversation. He had not a clue about my presence. I advised him that I was going to keep an eye on him and that I had seen him drive while intoxicated previously and that that conduct would not be repeated and I left.

He stayed in the bar for hours, left his truck and walked home about 3/4 of a mile. This worked for about two weeks. Finally one evening he decided to drive home. He made it for about two blocks before he was stopped. I took his keys and distributor cap and left him on the side of the road. I did not waste my time giving him any field sobriety tests and I gave him a choice. Walk home or go to jail. He walked home. The next morning he came by the police station to get his keys and distributor cap. By the next month we had him in AA and he quit drinking within 3 months. We never had another problem with him and it did not cost him a dime nor did we waste our time in helping him and his family. It would have been easier to bust him the first time but that would not have solved the problem. We had drunks who were arrested multiple times for DUI and who kept on drinking and driving without a valid license for years.

[starmac]

Crash there were a lot of cops in NM like you, local and state in the 70's, sadly there is not much of that anymore, unless you are a friend or have some political pull locally. The last state trooper I know of that was like that retired a few years ago. Not long before he retired he stopped by my shop with two out of town college kids. He gave me the keys to there and told me what mile marker it was at, and to not let them have it back until the next day. He took them to the motel and had them check in. This same trooper was in a different location, which was where I went to high school and gave me a few breaks of my own. I left town the day after graduation, and didn't see him again for 16 years, but the first day I was back in NM I ran a wrecker call and there he was. he hadn't forgot me. lol

[mtnman31]

It is sad that nowadays, if an officer did what Crash did for that fellow, the guy would get in an accident and the officer would be sued by both the drunk driver and the driver's victim. The resulting judgements could literally bankrupt a small town police department... Our society has the mentality that one doesn't have to accept the consequences of their actions, they can just blame it in someone else and sue them. Even if you don't win the frivolous suit, the other person is destroyed because they spent their life savings on a lawyer defending themselves.

[grumman581]

These days you find cops that will even give tickets to guys driving lawn mowers on the side of the road that don't go faster than you can walk. Hell, I even read an article awhile back where I got got a DWI for riding a horse along the side of the road. I guess I shouldn't be surprise since this country has gone so far to cr-p that you can get a Boating While Intoxicated in a sailboat. I don't think that they give BWIs for tubing and drinking a beer *yet*, but I wouldn't be surprised.

[starmac]

They do here Boat, canoe, raft or ice floe, can get you a bwi, believe it or not. We had a kid jailed with trumped up charges for riding a chunk of ice on a lawn chair, no beer involved. There was a pretty good uproar over it last year.

George got a DWI on a lawnmower at between vidor and beaumont, iirc back in the late 70's or early 80's. lol

[Lloyd Smale]

were talking radar detectors here, not drunk driving detectors or 16 year old kids speeding. There completely differnt subjects. Some of you live in areas that have freeways and routinely drive 70mph to get where your going. Some like me live in very rural areas that have speed limits of 55. IF you are old enought to remember at one time 65 was a universal speed limit in this country. It wasnt changed to 55 because of wrecks or teenage deaths. It was changed because of the fuel shortage in those days. It was brought to us by politians who dont abided by it themselves. I am absolutely no more of a danger on the road driving 65 then i am 55. Yup i have a radar detector in my car. It doesnt mean i drive 90 mph down the road. I do drive 65 routinely and wont appolgize for it. Heck sometimes i dont wear my seat belt either. I dont feel some politician should be able to tell me i have to wear it. Funny to me some states make you wear a seat belt in a pickup truck but will pass a law saying a guy on a motorcycle can ride without a helmet. Or will allow a bar to serve alcohol to people with there cars lined up in the parking lot but will pass a law saying those same people cant smoke a cigerette inside because some yuppy might be offended or has a very remote possibility of it doing harm to them but that same yuppy can drink in there and go out and possibly drive a car under the influence. A radar detector doesn cause wrecks or fatalitys. No more then a gun causes death. You cant tell me that someone using one would majicaly be a safer better driver if he didnt have it. thats just silly. I think the main reason there banned in places is that it angers the police depts that they cut into there profits buy keeping them from writing a few more tickets every day.

[dragon813gt]

You can thank the insurance companies for the no helmet laws. They were the big push behind it. And from a money standpoint I understand. The medical claims will be a lot less if you aren't wearing a helmet. And while I always wear my seatbelt, I see no good reason not to. I never wear a helmet when riding my motorcycle. And there a lot of good reasons for me to do so.

Funny how I never feel the need for a radar detector when on the motorcycle. I'm usually going under the limit because I'm just putting around checking out the scenery

[Bret4207]

It is sad that nowadays, if an officer did what Crash did for that fellow, the guy would get in an accident and the officer would be sued by both the drunk driver and the driver's victim. The resulting judgements could literally bankrupt a small town police department... Our society has the mentality that one doesn't have to accept the consequences of their actions, they can just blame it in someone else and sue them. Even if you don't win the frivolous suit, the other person is destroyed because they spent their life savings on a lawyer defending themselves.

Yup. And the other thing is that people talk. If Billy Bob gets a break from Officer Doe because he's having a crappy day and his wife left him with 5 kids, then Jim Bob, Ed Bob, Bubba and Bubba Jr all want breaks too even though they are total *** druggie drunks that don't even hold jobs. Discretion went out the window a few years back.

[unclogum bill]

Radar detectors are banned in all vehicles in the state of Virginia and the District of Columbia,
Radar Detectors are also banned in big trucks in the states of New York and Illinois. Plus, under federal law, the use of radar or laser speed detectors is illegal in all commercial vehicles over 10,000 pounds. However, radar detectors are allowed in all noncommercial vehicles in all other states.

Ignoring radar detector laws
Think law enforcement will never find out that you have an illegal radar detector? Think again! In states and areas where radar detectors are illegal, law enforcement have devices such as the VG-2 Detector and the Spectres I, II, III, that scan for small frequencies emitting from your detector’s tuning oscillator. And if you are caught with an illegal detector, be prepared to pay a huge fine, have your detector confiscated & possibly increase your auto insurance rates.

[starmac]

All states have and use it to seek out radar detectors, because they are banned in big trucks nationwide, and ALL states luv big truck money. Wyoming probably is the truck friendliest state that I know of.

If a radar detector saves you one ticket, it has paid for itself, but something to think about is that I have talked to cops that claim they never give someone a break if they know they have a radar detector, and I have gotten several breaks over the years.

[lksmith]

radar detectors just tell you when to pull over.. .LOL

I've had mine come on a mile in advance, more than once.
My take on them is if they save you from 1 ticket they've paid for themselves. I don't try to speed, but I drive 30+ miles each way to work and one vehicle doesn't have cruise and the other hits 60-70mph at 1500rpm without effort

[lksmith]

...
If a radar detector saves you one ticket, it has paid for itself, but something to think about is that I have talked to cops that claim they never give someone a break if they know they have a radar detector, and I have gotten several breaks over the years.

That's why you yank it off the windshield and throw it behind the seat if you get the blue lights

[Just Duke]

GPS is convenient for when you are in a new city or just as a replacement for printed maps. I don't like a GPS telling me where to go. I'm perfectly happy with it just showing me where I'm at and letting me figure out the route myself.

I have way to much electric junk now and don't care to purchase anymore. lol

[waksupi]

I have a little GPS
I've had it all my life
It's better than the normal ones
My GPS is my wife

It gives me full instructions
Especially how to drive
"It's thirty miles an hour", it says
"You're doing thirty five"

It tells me when to stop and start
And when to use the brake
And tells me that it's never ever
Safe to overtake

It tells me when a light is red
And when it goes to green
It seems to know instinctively
Just when to intervene

It lists the vehicles just in front
And all those to the rear
And taking this into account
It specifies my gear.

I'm sure no other driver
Has so helpful a device
For when we leave and lock the car
It still gives its advice
It fills me up with counseling
Each journey's pretty fraught
So why don't I exchange it
And get a quieter sort?

Ah well, you see, it cleans the house,
Makes sure I'm properly fed,
It washes all my shirts and things
And - keeps me warm in bed!

Despite all these advantages
And my tendency to scoff,
I do wish that once in a while
I could turn the damned thing off.

[codgerville@zianet.com]

I have a little GPS
I've had it all my life
It's better than the normal ones
My GPS is my wife

It gives me full instructions
Especially how to drive
"It's thirty miles an hour", it says
"You're doing thirty five"

It tells me when to stop and start
And when to use the brake
And tells me that it's never ever
Safe to overtake

It tells me when a light is red
And when it goes to green
It seems to know instinctively
Just when to intervene

It lists the vehicles just in front
And all those to the rear
And taking this into account
It specifies my gear.

I'm sure no other driver
Has so helpful a device
For when we leave and lock the car
It still gives its advice
It fills me up with counseling
Each journey's pretty fraught
So why don't I exchange it
And get a quieter sort?

Ah well, you see, it cleans the house,
Makes sure I'm properly fed,
It washes all my shirts and things
And - keeps me warm in bed!

Despite all these advantages
And my tendency to scoff,
I do wish that once in a while
I could turn the damned thing off.

YES! I think I married her sister!