Radar Detectors Are Now Worthless

GreyDiesel

New Member
Jul 26, 2008
167
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Denver, CO
Got a speeding ticket the other day. 98 in a 75.

First off, I was not going 98. I know I was speeding, but I was keeping it around 85. I hit the brakes as soon as the detector went off, so I know I was decelerating while the cop was getting his reading. I think, either my speedo is off (unlikely, I have the stock tire size on my car), or his gun was not calibrated correctly. He was traveling 75mph in the opposite direction and so would need to subtract the speed of his car from the final reading. If his speedo is off, it could make all his readings high.

I have a radar detector that I have been using for several years and it has gotten alerted me to numerous speed traps. Money well spent. However, I noticed, just in the past couple months. I am no longer getting that tell-tell tick-tick of an encroaching speed trap. All of sudden, the thing just goes off full blast. The cops around here now have guns that are accurate and fast enough, they can wait to turn it on until they have you in their sites.

I am just really surprised they can get a reading in 2 seconds while traveling in the opposite direction.

I am wondering, should I fight this? What are my options. I know I was not going 98. (no way, no how. I was slowly passing a semi at the time, and if I had been going 98, the semi would have just whizzed past.) Is it worth going to court to get it taken down to a 85 in a 75. That is still speeding after all, I wonder if it matters by how much I was breaking the limit.
 
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Time to buy a new one. I just did.

They are using instant on an POP tech now. Plus they detected your radar before you got to him and that alerted him to goto the instant lidar so you would be fully surprised. My new one has a full cloaking mode that lets me know in advance when they are looking for radar detectors for a surprise attack.
 
Qs rules for Speeding with or without a detector.

The issue is people think they can just drop a detector in their car and not do anything else. "Speeding" requires many things on your end to be done "properly". There are many ways to protect yourself even without a detector.

1. Awareness. You need to keep your head on a swivel (should be doing this anyway). Always checking sides of the road, behind you for the motorcycle or crown vic. And suspect ANY Crown Vic. ChP has been useing unmarked white ones and are very hard to spot. Keep an eye out for the kind of cars in your area, know them.

2. Slow down. Take it easy when you can't be sure. Just don't set the cruise for 90mph and fall asleep. If you cannot be sure about vehicles behind you or epsecially when you enter an area that is a known speed trap, slow down! At least go the speed of traffic.

3. Lane choice. Middle lanes are best. People think cops are only looking at the left lane. Actually they look at all lanes but find it easiest to nab people in the left (fast) lane and the far most right lane (next to to where they are sitting). Lots of speeders weave and bob in and out of the right most lane and cops know this. The ones on static patrol will actually be zapping people in the right most lane.

4. Terrain. Be aware of the terrain. Even the best detector is going to have issues with line of sight. You crest a hill and WAM her hit with instant on or laser. This goes back to step "2". When you can't be sure, slow down. Coming around a blind bend in the road? Slow down, even if your detector is silent. This happens far too often to people.

5. Learn your areas speedtraps. You don't need expensive GPS detectors for this. Just learn where the police sit. They often shift around a couple common spots. Yes this mean you won't be able to go balls-out on your journey. You need to slow down at those common locations, pass them safely, then return to cruising speed. Again, don't just rely on the dectector.

I have not used a radar detector on city streets in years and I am speed freak! I've only ever gotten caught once and that was because I was ignoring all the above rules plus doing other things no one should ever be doing on the highway. And I thank the officer for giving me a huge pass. He knew what I was doing and that it was not just a blatant defile of safety and laws.

The only time I find detectors useful are at night and on long trips. It has saved me many times on trips from LA to Vegas (usually done at night). Mainly from other cars being hit first and the detector alerts me. Or police that run with their radars ON all the time. This is when it helps because at night it is difficult to maintain the above rules.

Drive safe and speed with care. No one should be doing 100mph on the roads ever. Not in a city center especially. Save that for the open stretches of lonely highways.
 
I have concerns of the accuracy of a detection when the officer is in a vehicle that is in motion. Unless you can prove the fault of his reading. Hey maybe you can argue the point saying the officer must be dislexic or somethin and read the numbers wrong and you were doing 89 not 98. Good luck :)
 
I have concerns of the accuracy of a detection when the officer is in a vehicle that is in motion. Unless you can prove the fault of his reading. Hey maybe you can argue the point saying the officer must be dislexic or somethin and read the numbers wrong and you were doing 89 not 98. Good luck :)

He doesn't even need to hit you with radar. There are set proceedures for just pacing you to determine speed as well. He can hit with a "Over 75/85mph" type of ticket, a Max Speed Violation without any radar/laser.

His slip might have been that he fired off the gun and it returned a number that corroborated his pacing speed anyway. He should not have even bothered telling you he used radar.
 
There are lots of ways to fight it, but you really need more information on what type of radar, etc. he was using. The police are legally required to give you this and other information (model, calibration info and dates, etc.) upon request (even after the fact) and your ticket will be thrown out if they cannot provide it since you are unable to reasonably defend yourself.

One of the interesting things will be the type of radar used. If it is the older style, the radar will not be accurate enough to differentiate your car from the semi, and would return a reading from the largest object in its bandwidth. Many newer non-laser styles of guns will still get severely distorted results from large objects including trucks, road signs, and trees.

Another interesting thing would be to see if in the officer's notes he says the radar gun read 98 or what. If it says it read 98, you should get it thrown out since he was moving and would mean you'd be travelling around 75 mph. If you were theoretically going 98 and he was travelling 75 mph, it is possible the reading would have had to exceed the maximum reading for the gun!
 
If you were theoretically going 98 and he was travelling 75 mph, it is possible the reading would have had to exceed the maximum reading for the gun!

I think the difference between the two moving vehicles is compensated for with "Dopler" technology.

In my state, Virginia, it is strictly illegal to operate a Radar Detector. If you are caught they confiscate it until court and it is returned to you after you pay your fine. If you are from out of state and driving through, it is mailed to you after your fine is paid.
 
They still work however nothing is perfect.

Ultimately if they are running laser it wont mater what you use. Around fairfax co Va that's about all they use. Bike cops are the real problem, very hard to spot.
 
Thanks for the info everyone. I think, at the very least, I am going to request the info on the type of radar and any notes the officer took. I have a growing suspicion he actually was not able to get a good reading giving the conditions, and I can argue the point.
 
Sorry Bro, I can't buy they are worthless. I have a Passport 8500 x50 and it has saved me SO many times. It has a POP function, but I don't use it because I get too many false alarms with it on. Keep your eyes open, your best defense against the roadside tax collectors and the insurance company pimps is your eyes.
Speeding tickets have NOTHING to do with safety, they are just revenue generators, period. Cops that say differently are liars.
 
There are lots of ways to fight it, but you really need more information on what type of radar, etc. he was using. The police are legally required to give you this and other information (model, calibration info and dates, etc.) upon request (even after the fact) and your ticket will be thrown out if they cannot provide it since you are unable to reasonably defend yourself.

Can you please tell me where you are getting this info? I've read numerous places that cops DO NOT have to give you this info. The cop himself is the evidence that you were speeding. The radar detector is his backup.

However a ticket is ALWAYS worth fighting. It's not that you were speeding that the cop is giving you a ticket. This is a common misconception. It's the fact that your speeding is unsafe for the conditions of the road at the time. In California, it's CVC 22350.

The Basic Speed Law, CVC 22350 states: "No person shall drive a vehicle upon a highway at a speed greater than is reasonable or prudent having due regard for weather, visibility, the traffic on, and the surface and width of the highway, and in no event at a speed which endangers the safety of persons or property."

So what you have to do is prove that the speed you were going at the time wasn't unsafe. Going 75 on a highway with no other cars around on a clear and sunny day seems pretty reasonable to me. Now going 75 in the pouring rain in a traffic jam is another story.

One thing you can do, is to do a trial by declaration. This basically allows you to go to court through the mail. You write out your story to the court and the cop writes out his. You have to post the bail when you submit your forms which sucks, but what you are hoping for is that the cop doesn't get his paperwork in on time. If he doesn't, you automatically win. If he does, and the court finds you guilty, you can still request an actual trial, (Trial de Novo).

I did this a few years ago. The court found me guilty, I requested a trial de novo and the cop didn't show up, so I won.

ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS fight traffic tickets!!! They're a bunch of BS. Public safety my ass. Traffic tickets are about generating revenue for the city, pure and simple.
 
Many specifics around this whole topic will vary from state to state, as laws on how to fight traffic tickets vary significantly. Additionally, some states use "absolute" speed laws, which mean if 65 is posted, 66 is a violation, where others don't. In those situations, you can argue in court that going 70 in a 65 was fine since it was a clear day, straight road in good condition, no traffic, and good visibility, and you'd likely get let off.

As part of the constitution, however, you are required to be given all evidence against you. The charge is that you were speeding - that is not the evidence. The evidence was the reading on the officer's radar gun (or speedo if following you), otherwise he'd have no basis to pull you over. You need information such as this to see if the gun was calibrated properly, etc. Otherwise, you could theoretically get a speeding ticket for X mph over when you actually weren't speeding, and you'd never be able to prove it otherwise. The police usually won't voluntarily provide you with this information. You need to request it, usually in writing, a reasonable amount of time before the hearing. Again, the process will vary from state to state. You are more or less subpeonaing the information.

One example of why they need to give you this info: Several years ago in PA, there was an odd occurrance with police equipment. The radar detectors used in 2003-2004 Crown Vic's somehow loaded the system in a way that the alternator cause the radar to read a frequency that correlated to 78 MPH. An old man walking would register 72 mph under these circumstances. My friend got a speeding ticket going 72 in a 55 (she claims she was going 60-65), and after getting all the information and doing a little research, I was able to determine the car was never retrofitted with the proper modifications to prevent this from happening. She took it to court, used my defense, and won.

Bottom line - best way to avoid a speeding ticket: Don't speed. :)
 
Can you please tell me where you are getting this info? I've read numerous places that cops DO NOT have to give you this info. The cop himself is the evidence that you were speeding. The radar detector is his backup.

However a ticket is ALWAYS worth fighting. It's not that you were speeding that the cop is giving you a ticket. This is a common misconception. It's the fact that your speeding is unsafe for the conditions of the road at the time. In California, it's CVC 22350.

The Basic Speed Law, CVC 22350 states: "No person shall drive a vehicle upon a highway at a speed greater than is reasonable or prudent having due regard for weather, visibility, the traffic on, and the surface and width of the highway, and in no event at a speed which endangers the safety of persons or property."

So what you have to do is prove that the speed you were going at the time wasn't unsafe. Going 75 on a highway with no other cars around on a clear and sunny day seems pretty reasonable to me. Now going 75 in the pouring rain in a traffic jam is another story.

One thing you can do, is to do a trial by declaration. This basically allows you to go to court through the mail. You write out your story to the court and the cop writes out his. You have to post the bail when you submit your forms which sucks, but what you are hoping for is that the cop doesn't get his paperwork in on time. If he doesn't, you automatically win. If he does, and the court finds you guilty, you can still request an actual trial, (Trial de Novo).

I did this a few years ago. The court found me guilty, I requested a trial de novo and the cop didn't show up, so I won.

ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS fight traffic tickets!!! They're a bunch of BS. Public safety my ass. Traffic tickets are about generating revenue for the city, pure and simple.

That only works if they cite you 22350VC. If they cite you 22349(a)VC - exceeding 65 MPH your pretty much done. It could be 3 AM, no cars and the road is 6 lanes with no traffic and completetly straight for miles, hes still exceeding the maximum speed limit. Just thought id share.