Do you still use a radar detector to dodge traffic tickets?

I saw the oddest thing on a dashboard today at the gas station. Some grandpa looking dude actually had a radar detector? I think he was an estimator or engineer for a construction firm.

I stopped using a radar/laser detector about twenty years ago. I found it gave a false sense of security, and was more of a ticket detector. I found cops are more likely to give a warning if you don’t have a laser detector.

I think tickets come down to this.

The more you speed, the more likely you are to get a ticket. Duh.

Don’t be the fastest on the road.

Sorry. But the younger you are, the more likely you will be targeted for ticketing.

Don’t drive a piece of crap car that looks unsafe at any speed.

Look for cops, radar detectors mostly work by line of sight anyway.

Be in tuned how traffic is behaving.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone swears by radar/laser detectors. Or if most people think they are useless?

I think most speeders, these days, get caught by roadside cameras. They embed those things everywhere.....then your ticket just comes in the mail..

Dash cams are the best thing to have mounted...they catch some of the craziest situations

a reply to: snowspirit

I dove through Illinois over the summer. Every work zone had a radar that showed your speed by digital readout. Also, each work zone was posted that speed limits were enforced by traffic cameras. Each posting had a list of fines with dollar amounts.

I use one.

You know what is funny?

The fcc, or whomever allowed all the car radar systems to be on the same frequency as radar detectors, so they are almost worthless now.

They just beep all the time.

True "radar" detectors are obsolete. Radar was long ago defeated in the courts as a accurate way to isolate and accurately measure speeders. Most departments have all but gotten rid of them. You'll still see some in rural departments though. Most modern speed enforcement technology is laser based, and officers have to be stationary to use it properly.

So no, I haven't used a radar detector in over 30 years. Too many false alarms anyway with all the new security alarm technology.

ETA - not to mention cars operating devices in the same area of the spectrum.

I learned a while back that if i drive the speed limit i quit getting tickets. Works pretty good.

i just drive 5 over

best way

pretty aggressive. lane switching and #

trying to get to where i am going but not heavy on the pedal

too many cameras on the poles these days

Thankfully, traffic cameras are not used in Michigan as our laws actually acknowledge that people drive other people's vehicles on occasion and that the speeding driver may not be who the car is registered to. (Can't give me a ticket if my sister was speeding in my car). States like Ohio and Illinois are notorious for completely disregarding common sense though... Sorry guys lol those States are mental.

Anyway, no radar detector; us michiganders have MPA 85 of 2007 to use if he get popped for speeding

a reply to: neutronflux

I haven't used radar detectors in about 15 years. I had both microwave and laser (unidens), but I also had active microwave and laser jammers (front and back firing). The toy I liked the best though was my little uniden bct-12 "bear tracker." It monitored police car network repeater signal amplitude and gave you a nice little 1-9 level indication of distance, in any direction, to a police network rf source. It was only accurate to about 1/3rd of a mile in range steps to a maximum of 3 miles and didn't give the direction of the source. However, it worked on not just police cars, but planes and helicopters as well. It certainly saved my bacon in macon. Scanners are good for moderate overages up to 30mph over the highway limit. Anything above 120mph, they do become a little pointless as your warning time coupled with reaction time is not enough to fully back out of it. But they are very effective on winding roads and approaching populated areas.

Cheers - Dave

Wait till you guys get black boxes in your vehicles. In the UK insurance companies are pushing them bigtime. Offering cheaper premiums and money off next years premiums if, I said if, you drive correctly. They are trying to get them mandatory.
Black box tells them minute by minute where you are on the road, therefore telling them the speed limit of said road so they will know if you are breaking the speed limit(penalty). They monitor your braking, if you brake to hard they assume you an aggressive driver (penalty). They have a sensor inside that monitors your driving, whether it's smooth or harsh (penalty for harsh driving). Etc. etc.
The case being if you have an accident they look at your driving and if erratic or harsh or you were speeding at the time, whoops your insurance is null and void. Easy aint it. You don't know how lucky you are.

I use a detector and it’s saved me many times. I also install them for a living, still big in the police state of New York. I see a lot of “I had one30years ago, but now I’m honest Abe BS. Well you’re not going to believe this, in 30years technology has changed, maybe even advanced!?!? Other cars don’t set them off with their parking sensors, unless you buy $100 junk.

They don't just go off on radar detectors though, I have had it alert to emergency and construction over the backside of hills, or around corners, which is great.

Now, that safety feature is gone.

a reply to: crayzeed

Wait till you guys get black boxes in your vehicles. In the UK insurance companies are pushing them bigtime. Offering cheaper premiums and money off next years premiums if, I said if, you drive correctly.

They are already trying that here. I said no!

You won’t be driving in the near future.

Another skill that won’t be taught.

a reply to: neutronflux

I use the TomTom speed camera app (link). It's pretty good and runs through the bluetooth without any downsides so far.

a reply to: WUNK22

I never said I changed my driving habits. I get less tickets now because I don’t have that false sense of security. I really do think younger people are more likely to be pulled over. Hence the thirty years ago being a factor. And I don’t drive a piece of crap car that doesn’t look like a threat to public safety. And I really think you are more apt to get off with a warning if you don’t have a radar detector. I also think not hogging or staying in the left lane is a factor too.

I get less tickets now, and I didn’t spend the money on a radar detector that might make a cop more likely to give you a ticket if I do get pulled over.

However, not speeding is the best way of not risking losing your license. Is that false.

Sorry, I think radar or laser detectors are not with the their price.

originally posted by: Kandinsky
a reply to: neutronflux

I use the TomTom speed camera app (link). It's pretty good and runs through the bluetooth without any downsides so far.

Thank you. I do think the future will be more passive speed traps. Traps that work by photo eyes, or other passive technology.

I have a problem with giving out speeding tickets for revenue generation. Every time I've gotten a ticket it is in some podunk backwater. Completely open highway, cruise control set to 80mph. No reason to be driving slower. Hardly any other cars on the highway.

The natural speed of traffic on US highways is about 70-85 mph. Meaning regardless of speed limit, this is what people naturally drive in a safe manner. This has been study ad nausem. In fact, the speed limit of 55mph is a left over change from the gas shortage in the 70s.

On highways, speeding really isn't the problem. It is slow drivers that make it unsafe because they interrupt the flow of traffic. This causes drivers to need to change lanes unnecessarily. The slow drivers are like a rock in the middle of a stream. I was always taught to go with the flow of traffic. If people are passing you on both the left and right, you are driving to freaking slow.

Where I would like to see more tickets is in areas where people are clearly driving too fast for conditions or in an unsafe manner. For example, I live across the street from a school and park. There will be cars parked on both sides of the street where barely two cars can go past each other. Most people have enough situational awareness to slow down given the tight space, but also because there are kids around and the parked cars create a ton of blind spots. Invariably everyday, I see some idiot driving like 40mph down the street when 20-25 is really all anyone should be doing.

a reply to: neutronflux

I never used one, but I agree that it was a false sense of security--if your detector detected the radar, they already knew how fast you were going.

I just decided to use cruise control most of the time, and that keeps me out of tickets. The last speeding ticket that I had was probably a decade ago outside of Nashville--THP officer was a dick for absolutely no reason, other than he must have been having a bad day.

Before that, it was in high school in the mid- to late-90s.

(that doesn't mean that I haven't gotten off with warning in between or since, though...being polite and cordial goes a long way)

a reply to: Edumakated

My dad just visited me (KY/OH area) from California, and he was in such appreciation that our states do not require trucks with trailers to have a max speed of 55mph--apparently, that's still a thing out there in California, although it doesn't surprise me.

Like you say, though, it is the slow drivers that cause the majority of issues, so this may explain why California has such bad traffic in many places. Trucks also can't pass (legally) in the left lane, either, which adds to the problem out there. It's all just silly.