Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: BGBMAW on November 04, 2003, 02:15:29 PM
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...so do people still use these to avoid speediing tickest??
im in california..My ride likes to cruise between 85-100..its just about 2, ooo rpm in fiftgh gear..it just likes that speed..but speedlimits usaaly 65 here..
can i do anything w/ a radar detector..do they work and which ones?
Love
BiGB
just got ny first tiket in new ride...81 in a 65..i fkng had my cruise control on ..(a night) i was at 73mph..wen to pass a few peopl..went 81 mph..motocycle cop saw me..arghhhhhhh
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Originally posted by BGBMAW
just got ny first tiket in new ride...81 in a 65..i fkng had my cruise control on ..(a night) i was at 73mph..wen to pass a few peopl..went 81 mph..motocycle cop saw me..arghhhhhhh
haaaaaaaaaaaaaahahaha
wtg big gay balding maw, your not such a sissy as i thought you were :D
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radar detectors are illegal in a lot of places...check that out first before getting one...
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I use a Bel 985 with a 904 Laserpro Jammer.
You need to research what you local cops use. In NZ is primarily Laser and Ka band now. But I understand the US is mostly K Band.
Do NOT buy a 'cordless' radar detector, they lose craploads of sensitivity.
Brands to go for are Bel, Escort, and the Valentines. Anything else is pretty much a waste of time.
I buy all my gear from http://www.radarbusters.com (I've brought some in for friends). I can't recommend this guy highly enough, service and support is beyond awesome. I bought an Escort cordless from him, found it was weak on Ka detection, he accepted it back and offered up a full refund (I ordered a Bel off him), and modified his webpage to not recommend this model for NZ.
If you're gonna buy a jammer avoid that Rocky Mountain crap, its garbage. The Escort and Bel Laser jammers are good, mine has saved me craploads (our cops have a very low speeding tolerance, +5 km/h and you get a ticket).
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Valentine One
It's a radar locator, not just a detector. Gives you direction, type, and number of bogeys. Also they have an upgrade program when they improve firmware and hardware, so you can keep your unit current.
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Yeah the Valentine One is great.. However, I have a Bell Cordless one I keep in the Miata. It works very well and doesn't lose much sensitivity when the battery goes low infact mine chirps when the battery reach's a certain point. And I replace them right a way...
I have a V-1 but only use it on long distant trips as it's too expensive to have it stolen outta the car with the top down. when i leave it unattended.
I'd buy the Valentine One if were you.
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radar detectors are illegal in a lot of places...check that out first before getting one...
that can be beat. these local ordanances go against federal law. (the fcc stuff about being allowed to recieve any signal sent. basicly regulation is on the guy generating a signal not the guy recieving it, since all a detector is doing is listening for a signal they can't be banned)
I had te passport until my jeep was broken into this summer, will probably get another soon.
it doesn't catch everything and it almost never will save you on lazer (I did have a luck save where I picked up the lazer signal when he hit the car in front of me, I locked up the brakes and had slowed from 105 to 65 before the van in front of me gave him a clear shot)
so it's a hit and miss sort of thing. don't let it fool you into thinking you can drive faster than you would normally, and if it does don't be dumb enough to admit it. (this is also the only way they can enforce the ban, if you admit that you thought you where safe so where driving fast, then they can say you where using the detector to enable you to comit a crime, they can ban that).
officially my radar detector isn't there to avoid getting tickets. it's to warn me when an officer is checking my speed so that I can be aware in case he writes a ticket, that way I can begin to look for deffensive evedence at the same time he's looking for incriminating evidence (no point giving him a headstart).
also many of the newer ones have emergancy vehicle locators. these work in 2 ways. 1 kind reads the signals that some emergency vehicles use to turn the lights green. the other (as it was explained to me) tunes in on a signal between the cops handset and his car(I was told some use the car as a relay point between the radio he caries and the station.)
regardless of how it works it does work, I usually get an alarm 20 or 30 seconds before I'm close enough to hear the sirens on a firetruck or ambulance (on the freeway). this is another way around local bans as it is a piece of saftey equipment.
so make sure you get this feature, it will help you beat the ticket if you get caught in a place that has tried to ban them, and you will sometimes get the vehicle locator going off, slow down, go around a corner and get hit with the lazer. it's handy to know where he's at even if his speed equipment isn't active
but like I said, don't count on them. not all cars have the beacons to trip the vehicle locator, so in that case his gun needs to be active, and most cops are smart enough to not just leave the gun on. lazer is a one shot at a time deal and leaves nothing for you to pick up. if your lazer detector does anything other than let you know that you just got a ticket you're damn lucky.
all that aside a decent detector is only about $75. I had mine for 4 years and in that time it saved me from about 6 tickets that I'm sure of and I have no idea how many that I slowed down after the signal but never did see the cop (doesn't mean he wasn't there).
at a price of anywhere from $180-$350 per ticket on the freeway I figure it's has more than paid for itself.
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Radar detectors are such a life saver. Mine can pick up radar at over a mile. It has several different tones, so I can tell if a cop is stationary, behind me, or in front of me coming at me.
I cruise at about 80, but when I get some tones on the radar, I casually slow down and slip behind another car. I've never had a ticket.
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It's been a while since I was in Cali, but they (CHP) did not use radar, only locals did. CHP would clock your speed between fixed points. This may have changed since laser has been introduced.:confused:
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Laser detectors are useless, unless you happen to be between the car the cop is tracking and the cop.
All laser guns that I have used give a reading within a half second. And unless the cop is trying to track a car a mile away, there is no beam for you to detect. (Unless you are the speeder that is....and how fast can you slow down in a half second?)
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Originally posted by rpm371
It's been a while since I was in Cali, but they (CHP) did not use radar, only locals did. CHP would clock your speed between fixed points. This may have changed since laser has been introduced.:confused:
The CHP can and do use radar. In the past, they had a policy of not purchasing any, but if the local government wished to provide them with the equipment, they would use it. Nowadays, I think they actually purchase them.
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Originally posted by davidpt40
It has several different tones, so I can tell if a cop is stationary, behind me, or in front of me coming at me.
How? AFAIK, the transmitted signal does not change if the shooter is in motion (or not).
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Originally posted by Mickey1992
Laser detectors are useless, unless you happen to be between the car the cop is tracking and the cop.
All laser guns that I have used give a reading within a half second. And unless the cop is trying to track a car a mile away, there is no beam for you to detect. (Unless you are the speeder that is....and how fast can you slow down in a half second?)
FWIW, the radar is more accurate. It measures doppler. The laser measures speed by ranging to the target.
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Originally posted by Sandman_SBM
How? AFAIK, the transmitted signal does not change if the shooter is in motion (or not).
It's just a direction finder/signal stregnth meter.
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capt. apathy: that can be beat. these local ordanances go against federal law. (the fcc stuff ... since all a detector is doing is listening for a signal they can't be banned)
Has nothing to do with FCC. Localities can outlaw anything they want to.
It is illegal to own a bullet-proof vest in NYC. It does not emit anything, cannot hurt anyone, being light and soft. Cannot even be used to scare anyone. Cannot even be confused with anything dangerous. Nevertheless it's illegal.
miko
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Originally posted by Sandman_SBM
The CHP can and do use radar. In the past, they had a policy of not purchasing any, but if the local government wished to provide them with the equipment, they would use it. Nowadays, I think they actually purchase them.
Yep they are using it more and more. I have seen them using mobile radar on cars and motorcycles. I've also seen them doing speed traps with the m/c. But I've never seen them doing the classic sit-on-the-median-eating-donuts-speed-trap, thank cod.
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Has nothing to do with FCC.
since radar guns generate a broadcast signal they have everything to do with the fcc. and fcc has jurisdiction over this area.
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And yeah I agree on the earlier comments about laser. Detectors are worthless. If you detect it, you are already busted. Jammer is the only way to to, and I don't know of any sold or legal in the US. Fortunately laser takes more marksmanship than radar, and is thus not as suitable for mobile employment, and not used very much in the US. Spend your money on a Valentine One or a radar detector, and use your brain to avoid laser.
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Originally posted by rpm371
It's just a direction finder/signal stregnth meter.
Okay... I misunderstood... yeah... that makes sense. With the tone even on the older detectors, I could tell whether I was closing rapidly on the source.
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Here's a good review:
http://www.consumersearch.com/www/automotive/radar_detectors/fullstory.html
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Originally posted by davidpt40
Radar detectors are such a life saver.
Umm, traveling the speed limit, or somewhere within 5 mph of it is a life saver. Using technology to break the law with impunity doesn't.
Discuss...
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Unfortunately, speed limits are not based on safety. They are based on citation revenue optimization. The idea is to use the Interstates as God and Ike intended, without paying exorbitant "usage fees" to Smokey.
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capt. apathy: since radar guns generate a broadcast signal they have everything to do with the fcc. and fcc has jurisdiction over this area.
Yes, the radar guns must comply with FCC. I am sure they all do.
But you said that outlawing the radar detectors is against federal law - or at least that's how it reads in your post.
FCC says what kidn of devices are illegal. It has no power to dictate what kind of devices must be legal in municipalities.
miko
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Originally posted by MrLars
Umm, traveling the speed limit, or somewhere within 5 mph of it is a life saver. Using technology to break the law with impunity doesn't.
Discuss...
IMHO, if you buy a detector and think you now own a license to speed, you deserve the ticket you're going to get. On the other hand, if you buy the detector to enable you to drive at a speed that you're already comfortable with, more power to ya.
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My buddy swears by his Valentine One. If I wasn't planning on being a cop in a few months, I'd have one by now too.
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Radar detectors are a money saver?
Most cops here use the K-band. It makes a light blink that says K/10 on my radar detector. Occasionally a cop will use the X-band. But alot of other things use the x-band also (airport radar, supermarkets, etc).
Cops in my city have quotas on speeding tickets. Thats even more reason to have a radar detector.
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Originally posted by Tarmac
My buddy swears by his Valentine One. If I wasn't planning on being a cop in a few months, I'd have one by now too.
And then you truly will have a license to speed. My younger brother is a county Sherriff's deputy. He can do freakish things with an automobile.
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Originally posted by davidpt40
Cops in my city have quotas on speeding tickets. Thats even more reason to have a radar detector.
Quotas on tickets, or speeding tickets?
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Funked you can buy several good working laser jammers in the US. The "laser" the cops use works in the infrared spectrum and is relatively easy and LEGAL to jam. Being light it is not governed by the FCC. Halogen lights and the sun at low angles interfere with Laser guns.
In testing my laser jamer(s) I often found the cop would move positions after being jammed. It seems like they get an error message (apparently comes up with an "ambient light" error) and relocate.
There are 3 radar bands, X band, K band, and Ka band. I understand Ka band is not used heavily in the US yet. K band puts out a whopping signal, and is easy to pick up. Ka is very discrete, this is where the cordless detectors fall over.
As for the 'your're breaking the law argument':
I purchased my laser jammer after being ticketed by a cop at a range of 475 metres. At the time there was traffic (trucks) passing in front of him and a vehicle coming up behind me. He targeted me by hand, the manufacturers will not back up these units at 500 metres or more by hand. At 475 metres the beam can sweep 5 metres in one degree of shake. I know he got the guy behind me, I know what my speed was. His response "sir you were the only vehicle on the road".
One guy I worked for got lasered, prepared to be pulled over, only to see the cop whizz past him. He came around the corner to see the cop pulled over with a vehicle the same colour and model as his.
Our cops have quota's to meet, the courts rate their speed measuring equipment to be infalliable, I know different and have protected myself.
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excellent..thnks for the input..greatly apreciate it..
my only real problem is at night time..cant see visually..
but excellent input..
i guees its going to be VAlentien One..i will lok now..
dam we got some people who do know things in here.:)
Lazer jammers?..does CHp ..have those?..would CHP moto cops have them?
on ticket it says...
radar Unit/Patrol Vehicle #
M8818
is that a model number of Radra /alzer gun?
Salute
BiGB
xoxo
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I spent more than a few hours over better than 10 years in active traffic investigtation / enforcement.
The X guns are almost all gone in AZ. now. They were too broad in their "beam" and easily confused in traffic. They were best in light traffic only on a narrow road.
The K guns were much improved with a narrow beam and much more slective in targeting.
ALL radar guns are susceptable to interferance with multiple targets if they are in a wide beam. It tends to confuse them and they blank out.
I saw many drivers with radar detectors. They didn't bother me as the detector is based on one type of radar usage. A steady beam broadcast down the road. I didn't do that. I held the gun straight up into the air until I saw a speeder, estimated his speed then zapped for confirmation. Range was about 150 feet or so. All the detector did was tell them they were busted. I didn't bother with 5 or even 10 over most of the time unless it was a school zone. Then I only allowed 7 over.
I never had a quota and was never told I had to write tickets to fund anything. I was told I was expected to be working and not just sitting on the side of the road if not on a call. Frankly you had to be pretty darn blind not to see violations in traffic on a routine basis. Most drivers seem like they are on aotopilot and unaware of what is going on. Sad and dangerous.
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Mav's right about most of it. Radar and Laser Detectors are useless by themselves, and most people on the road in this country take driving too lightly. But they are handy tools for situational awareness. Of course, I don't own one.
There are plenty of places in the country where local law enforcement and highway patrol uses speeding regulations to generate revenue. On the other side of town here, for example (iowa), we have a part of the city that's incorporated separately and has its own, very small police force). There's one road that goes through that area and connects two parts of the city (so city police on each side). That road has a 25mph speed limit, and is on a slight slope. 50% of the time I travel that road, I've been illuminated. Fortunately, I've been at or below 25mph.
Heck, I know of some towns where the cops are so notorious, people drive 5-10 mph under the limit just to be safe, only to get pulled over when their tires touch the yellow line.
And then there are groups like the flying tires of Ohio, who travel in wolfpacks, and have their favorite trap areas. Why come to think of it, when Moose drove out to Ohio a couple years ago, he got three speeding tickets, all in OH.
So, sure I believe there are plenty of smart cops out there who only use the radar/laser to confirm what's sufficiently obvious, but there are plenty of guys out there who find that parking and painting everything that goes by is just as effective.
What's ironic to me is that the situation for which a radar/laser detector would be most useful is also the one where speeding is the least dangerous: open freeways with no traffic. As long as there are other cars around, you can always spot a cop by the way every schmuck driver on the road panics and lays on the brakes.
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Hey Mav...
Around here I keep seeing police officers pulling like 4 people over at once. I had this happen to me and it was 5, and I had to wait over 30 minutes to get my ticket.
Is that considered ok? That seems really rude to me, I understand Police officers have a hard job, but do they have the right to keep you waiting like that while they ticket 4 other people?
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Originally posted by Maverick
I saw many drivers with radar detectors. They didn't bother me as the detector is based on one type of radar usage. A steady beam broadcast down the road. I didn't do that. I held the gun straight up into the air until I saw a speeder, estimated his speed then zapped for confirmation. Range was about 150 feet or so. All the detector did was tell them they were busted.
The high end detectors will give a warning from a mile or two away as you zap cars in front of them. The only problem is if the road is empty, then the first signal you get is one aimed right at you. That's about the only way you will get a ticket with a V1 or similar, if you know how to use it.
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the thing that really pisses me off is that they no longer 'lock in' the reading.
so the cop says I know you where speeding, I had it on radar.
"can I see the reading on the gun?"
"no our policy is to no longer lock in readings."
if it's an honest ticket what is the benifit to clearing the reading in the gun?
wouldn't it be better to show the driver the reading and avoid the court costs of a fight.
IMO if they want to use this equipment as evedence in a court it should save the data.
how hard would it be to incorperate a recipt printer that printed time, date, and speed?
the only ones this would inconvienece is the liars.
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Originally posted by GtoRA2
Hey Mav...
Around here I keep seeing police officers pulling like 4 people over at once. I had this happen to me and it was 5, and I had to wait over 30 minutes to get my ticket.
Is that considered ok? That seems really rude to me, I understand Police officers have a hard job, but do they have the right to keep you waiting like that while they ticket 4 other people?
Short answer, yes they can do that. This is particularly true where traffic violations are still criminal. By that I mean you can go to jail for the offense. Most jurisdictions / states have decriminalized the usual traffic violations and made them a "civil" infraction. That means you can't go to jail when found guilty, you can only be fined or given an alternative penalty.
FWIW I have done just what you posted about for sign violations. Example, several cars turning where prohibited or not turning when they were required to do so. I didn't like it as it increases the danger of the stop exponentially. Instead of one car and a couple occupants you now have to track multiple cars and the occupants.
Traffic stops are still just about the most hazardous thing you can do with some other obvious things like domestic disputes and a "hot armed call" a bit higher. You just never know what you are walking into on them and the bad guy will always get the first and usually second shot as well. You are out in the open and exposed and they are in a bit of cover.
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I was guilty as charged lol. I was sicker then a dog, and got stuck in a now stop zone in front of a firestation. Darnit, traffic came to a sudden stop.
Still, I never argue and always make sure the Officer can see my hands. :D
Turns out the Officer who ticketed me is infamous, a work friend got just about all his tickets from him when he was in highschool. He would wait at the end of his street.
I have some friends who work for the Water district as well, and this same Officer would follow their big trucks and ticket them as soon as they drove the truck on a road that would not take Semi trucks. The trucks they need to fix water main breaks!
Someone also spray painted his name and "Sucks Dick" on an overpass. It is funny how many people had stories of this Officer being a jerk to them.
Other then him, I have never had even a remotely bad experience with a Police officer. Hell, I got caught street in my GTO in an area looking for a street race twice and they where nice, and let me off with warnings. Even talked cars a bit!
Last time I got stopped was the night I was going to propose to my girl, and he gave me a fixit ticket for no tags, lol. He was cool though.
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There are Good Cops and Bad Cops out there. When I drove an 18 Wheeler I found them to balance out about 60/40 to the good. The ones that worked traffic for a long time were the ones that were just doing their job and knew you were just doing yours. Now get a guy who is new or has been put on traffic for some reason he isn't happy about and that is where the bad experiences come from. State Cops also seemed to be less confrontational than locals. Had a Sheriff's Deputy draw down on me once while climbing out of the truck because he thought it was stolen (it wasn't)....that was scary. :eek:
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I have to admit Livermore cops are pretty cool. They gave me three warnings (verbal only) before giving me a ticket. When they give me the ticket, I had no front plate, expired tags, and he just wrote me up for the speed and told me to take care of the other stuff.
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I didn't like it as it increases the danger of the stop exponentially. Instead of one car and a couple occupants you now have to track multiple cars and the occupants.
I honestly never looked at one of those stops from the cops perspective before. I've only been pulled over for 1 like that. looking at it from that point of view I can't imagine he thought the ticket (which was one of the ones I wasn't guilty of btw) was worth the risk to pull over 2 cars.
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Originally posted by FUNKED1
I have to admit Livermore cops are pretty cool. They gave me three warnings (verbal only) before giving me a ticket. When they give me the ticket, I had no front plate, expired tags, and he just wrote me up for the speed and told me to take care of the other stuff.
That's called, "selling the ticket." I've watched my brother do it a few times... he walks back to the car and lists all the things he could have written up, but because he's such a nice guy, he'll limit it to just these "two."
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every time I get a BS speeding ticket it goes that way.
"I have you on radar doing 84 in a 55 but I'll cut you slack and write it for 72, after that it gets expensive"
"can I see the reading on the gun?"
"no I cleared it"
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Originally posted by capt. apathy
every time I get a BS speeding ticket it goes that way.
"I have you on radar doing 84 in a 55 but I'll cut you slack and write it for 72, after that it gets expensive"
"can I see the reading on the gun?"
"no I cleared it"
If he's alone in the car-fight it.Then he can explain to the judge why it was cleared.
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he had an answer for that. deptment policy, no answer as to why a police department would adopt such a policy though.
btw- to those here who are cops. isn't part of a police officers job to collect and/or preserve evedence as an 'officer of the court' (or whatever the official term is)? wouldn't the reading on a radar gun be relivent evedence? doesn't it seem that erasing the reading before the person citted (victim) has a chance to see it (ie. examine all evedence used against him) sort of counter productive to the mission of a police officer.
I'm no expert on what is legal or not but I do know this isn't right. in court cops are treated as impartial witnesses, yet they dispose of evedence the accused could use to clear themselves before the person can view it. if they are being fair and impartial, then whats the harm in letting the accused view the evedence? they give no valid excuse other than 'deptartment policy'. it's not just one department either OSP, WSP, and all of the county and municipal departments I'm aware of in northern oregon and southern washington.
the line I get from cops who are willing to discuse it at all is "department policy, all the departments are doing it this way now, it simplifies court cases" I bet it does, destroying all evedence that the person could use to deffend themselves would make getting convictions much simpler.
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Radar detectors are ok, but how about car-mounted chaff dispensers and HARM missiles ?
"MAGNUM!!"
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Just get a good lawyer and beat the ticket in court.
thats what I do but then again i'm a jew:aok
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Had a depressing email from my brother this morning, concerning speed traps on the M4 motorway which runs West out of London, past London's #1 airport (Heathrow/LHR), out through Berkshire where I live, and continues across the Severn Bridge all the way into South Wales. About 200 miles. The email is in purple, and I've got some questions for you guys, and for Maverick.
One for you , I think. Bloody speed cameras! It's not speed that kills, it's bad driving, lack of control and inappropriate speed. I recently did 110 on the Newbury bypass perfectly safely, but will willingly slow to 25 on narrow country lanes and built up areas. Tailgating is another major cause of accidents.
Sneaky big brother......
Subject: M4 Speed Cameras - for those who haven't received it already You may want to share the info below with any of your drivers who use the M4:
For those of you who travel the M4: New electronic signs on the M4 were switched on today, Tuesday 21 October. The bad news is that they are rigged with the SPECS speed cameras. SPECS is a computer-camera based system. As you go past the sign a digital camera reads your number plate. When you go past the next sign your number plate is read again. The computer 'knows' how far apart the signs are so it can work out your average speed between the two, or three or four. The system is fully automatic and will issue a ticket without any form of human intervention. It does this for every single vehicle that passes. You
will not know you've been caught as the cameras don't flash. They work 24/7, 365 days a year, and theoretically, there's absolutely no limit on the number of tickets that the system can issue. The whole section of the M4 between Theale (J12) and Membury Services (between J14 and J15) is wired, both ways. The system is set to trigger a ticket at 78 mph. Radar detectors will be of no use as SPECS is entirely passive, there is no radar or laser beam to detect. Be warned and be careful.
Well guys, what do you think of that? No camera flash, passive system - detectors are useless. The bad news for you guys is that this technology can be exported...
The maximum limit on British motorways is 70mph, but most people (myself included) do about 90, slowing down as traffic conditions require. In fog with vis at 100 yards or less, I'll be doing 30 - and still seeing idiots pass me at 70-80. We'll be getting our first major fog pile-up any time now that it's November. I've never had a ticket in Britain.
So I don't agree that speed kills. But excessive speed for the conditions is different. Go to Germany and travel on the autobahn and you'll see Mercs doing 150+ - perfectly legally. BUT!!! They place great importance on moving back to the right hand lane after overtaking - totally different from the dorks on the M4 who just sit in the middle lane at 60 or less when the left lane is free. (We drive on the wrong side here, remember.) Would be interesting to compare Germany's traffic accident mortality rate with that of Britain and the US where we have speed limits on our major highways.
Just recently in CA, I was never sure what the speed limit was on the freeways. I know a lot has changed since the double nickel days of the 80s, so was looking for speed signs, but hardly saw any! Most of the traffic seemed to be doing about 75-80, so I did too.
Maverick - what would have happened if I had been pulled over for speeding? What do you do with foreigners with foreign licences? My understanding is that you have to give up your licence to the cop if you get a ticket. But for someone who might later be travelling to another destination where they intend to rent another car, it would be unacceptable.
I'm mildly surprised not to have received a traffic ticket in recent visits to the US. In the double nickel days, I recall that speed limits were much more rigorously enforced there than in Britain at that time.
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SPECS is already on a road near me (notorious Stocksbridge bypass near Sheffield). This road has claimed scores of lives in a decade, mainly because it has three lanes available - two when it goes uphill, leaving a single carriage-way for the downhill direction. This alternates with the terrain. Idiots would cross the double white lines on the single carriage way on a particular bad corner and end up killing themselves and others in head on collisions.
Last year a whole family was wiped out, including a couple of young twins. So the police, in their infinite wisdom and because they have decided that catching burglars is too tricky, decided that speeding was to blame (not a crappy layout and head-on collisions) and installed SPECS. That thing is lethal. I think it was getting thousands of people a week in the month after switch on.
Ironically, two people have already died on the road after SPECS was installed so maybe it wasn't due to speeding afterall...
I'm sick to death of the gatso speed cameras too. I've been driving seven years and have had two speeding tickets in the last three months - one was a mobile detector van, the other a gatso. **** the police.
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It was 1 ticket and 1 warning in OH, not 3 :)
Although while on my recent road trip, I managed to get none, even in Ohio where the staties must breed faster then rabbits. Ive never seen so many cruisers before.
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Sometimes I see a Police box along the highway that shows your speed...no cameras that I know of, but it seems it would beplausible to issue tickets using that device if it was so rigged. And that is a relatively crude looking device on a small trailer.
About actually putting that into practice would be another thing. My guess is it would cost more money to operate the system, than it would generate in tickets...the same way some taxes lose money through the expense of collecting them. Costs more to collect the tax than what comes in.
Think about all the unpaid speeding tickets there are out there. The police do a "raid" on the scofflaws about every 5 years or so. Big operation rounding up 3,000 speeders and making them pay their fines. And those folks didn't recieve a ticket in the mail, they were pulled over.
That is high technology Beet1e, but I don't think it would go over well here in the US, giving speeding tickets that way. It would probably tie up the courts from people contesting their ticket. It may even be a constitutional issue, though I don't know how, I'm sure somebody would find something
Why go to all the trouble of high tech cameras, when cars could just have a speeding ticket box installed in the dash, which would automatically spit out a ticket every time the car exceeded the speed limit.
Les
Btw, I don't use a radar detector in my car. Not saying I don't occasionally move along on the interstate, but it seems the most likely place to get a speeding ticket is in a small town, where the speed limit changes abruply from 55 to 35. You better be going 35 too.
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but it seems it would beplausible to issue tickets using that device if it was so rigged.
we've had them here for a few years ( 6 or 8 maybe). it's set up in a van, you just see a flash, no speed print out.
they sold the public on them by saying we can use them in residential areas and get some of the speed down in areas where it's not cost effective to post an officer. (although I don't think the goal should be for a traffic cop to generate enough fines to pay his wages)
they hire a private contractor to run the equipment and it shoots your picture with the time and speed printed on it. later an officer reviews the pics and writes the tickets. the same company also runs the red-light cameras.
the thing is the contracted company gets a certain amount of cash per ticket, and they are in the game to make money. so while we where told it would be used only on residential streets, you only see it set up on roads that are technicly residential (usually 2 lanes each direction, or at the very least 1 each and a turn lane in the middle), bussy high traffic streets with maybe one house (that was built before the zoning changes) every couple blocks.
you can't get them to set it up on street like mine. where it's really needed and what we told it would be used for.
my street is narrow, maybe 18 inches on either side of your car (between you and parked cars), one car has to pull over for a car to pass by in the oposite direction. the speed is posted at 25 but you really can't safely go over 15-20. there are at least 30 kids under the age of 12 on this block.
3 blocks over is a major road, wide lanes, 5 feet of bike lane on each shoulder plus room for parking, speed limit 35. in the afternoon when traffics bad and kids are playing outside cars leave the busy street and use streets like mine to go around the traffic. they do 30-40 down a street full of kids, with no visability at all, and we can't get them to do anything about it. (the city not the police, on this issue the police are very understanding. only gave me a warning for slapping a guy I stopped on my street, and hinted heavily to him that they could find things to write him up on if he where to push the issue of his split lip.)
lately I've been hearing the city mentioning more and more how hard it is to safely pull people over on I-84 where it goes through town, I'm sure they are trying to get a foot in the door to set up cameras on the freeway next.
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Yes, we had that situation with "parking nazies" last year in downtown. And that was from the mayor and city council, who want to revitalize the downtown ghost town. The "parking nazies" were ticket happy, and made people afraid to go downtown. Hell, people were already afraid because of the low life that hangs out there.
Mobile's solution to the residential speeding was speed tables and speed islands on most residential city streets. You go slow if you know they're there...all it takes is one time of going fast to have damage to the car in most cases. A lot of folks here think it's a waste of money. I think it works, still it doesn't do the job of radar cops on motorcycles, which is the ultimate speed deterent.
We used to have them here a few years ago, and I've seen a couple lately. I tell you what...I never speeded just thinking about the possibility and likelihood they were there. Couple tickets was all it took for me to slow down. I think the city stopped the motorcycle patrol because it was dangerous for the guys doing it, and one was killed in a bad wreck by a speeder in a car who didn't see him. Their job was extremely dangerous.
One radar policeman used to park outside my house and he slowed down the speeders considerably. He was a black guy and everyone loved him. The police do a pretty good job with public relations.
With cameras and automatic responses (from computers) to given situations, we are moving closer to the future, as depicted in science fiction movies. Not a good thing to happen, at least as far as I'm concerned.
Les
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as far as speed cameras go, the citizenry of the US has a bunch of guns for a reason, and it ain't to stop the king of England from coming back.
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Originally posted by davidpt40
I've never had a ticket.
Famous last words...heheheheh. Bets, anyone?
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Originally posted by capt. apathy
every time I get a BS speeding ticket it goes that way.
"I have you on radar doing 84 in a 55 but I'll cut you slack and write it for 72, after that it gets expensive"
"can I see the reading on the gun?"
"no I cleared it"
What they do around my parts of town, is they go in every morning (or before their duty hours) and submit a calibration test, showing if the gun is working properly. If the calibration is with in standards, the officers word is all he needs to get you on the ticket. If he says you were going 75 in a 65, and he brings the calibration reports for that day, as proper and with in standard, not much you can do unless he did something blatantly wrong.
-BM
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right, but if he's not lying why wouldn't he let me see the reading? I can see no honest reason for this policy. the only benifit I can see would be for liars.
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Beetle,
Foriegn drivers were treated the same as any other. The citation was issued and a court date assigned. We did not take the license or cause the driver to walk unless they were driving on a suspended license already.
During the Iranian hostage situation we did have a large contingent of Iranians going to college in town. They thought it was funny to disregard tickets and tried to get around by not having their license in the car. We used several methods of determining identity. Some got their passports put into evidence when they gave false names when stopped. We also towed quite a few trans ams (those and firebirds were the car of choice for them) since the driver didn't have a license or other documentation with them and we were not going to allow the car to be parked unsecured where it was likely to be stolen. That hurt worse than just about anything else since they had to show registration and so on to get it back.
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Mav... how would you go about pulling over multiple cars? I can't quite work out how you'd do that.
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Originally posted by SOB
Mav... how would you go about pulling over multiple cars? I can't quite work out how you'd do that.
SOB,
In the case of pulling over a couple cars while I was on my bike I pull along side the last one, got the drivers attention and motioned him to follow me then stopped the first normally. Quite a bit easier on a bike. If one did try to get away, I went after him and let the other one go.
Most of the time for sign (example, illegal turns) violations you step out into the roadway and motion them over before they get moving very fast. then direct them to stop at the curb. This was usually around a corner so we didn't clutter up the main street. Again if one decided to run away I went after him. Only happened a couple times. The bike was right next to me and I was ready to drive.
Watching the drivers and how they respond gives an idea of what they are likely to do. It's really not a good idea but I got away with it. Some circumstances made it more feasible than other locations. This is especially true for sign violations such as do not enter, do not turn here, no left turn etc., when there is a convoy as the later drivers just follow the first in the violation without thinking or looking what they were doing.
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Thanks Mav, that makes sense...I was thinking of a patrol car doing it and couldn't figure how one would wrangle up multiple cars.
I once saw what you mentioned about standing on the side of the road, only it was a few of the less intelligent troopers in WA state. Well, I can only assume their intelligence based on their actions. They were standing around a blind corner on I-405 on the left side of the carpool lane to motion single occupant cars to pull over for ticketing. Naturally, they were doing this in the midst of rush hour traffic so they basically brought the southbound lanes of the freeway to a near standstill.
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Beetle, I was in the Thames Valley police station (the one in Reading) a while ago studying the British police. I was amazed by the network of cameras that were in the city, and the amazing coverage and detail they were capable of. These cameras were controlled, with full zoom and 360 rotation, from a command room in the police station. Do these highway speed cameras tie into that network, or are they purely for taking pictures of licence plates? Could they be used for real-time feeds of information if needed?
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Try the Phaser --they are quickly becoming illegal --they dont detect --they interfer with both radar and lazer, by spoofing the computers in the detection devices--think you can still order them on-line
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I say a funny one a few years back.
In east Palo alto, you take university to fo from 101 to the dumbarton bridge. It is all down town with lots of lights and it gets bumper to bumper and SLOW..
We would always take back streets,(through REALLY bad areas)
Well I guess this pissed the residents off, and they put up signs on all the side streets saying no right turn.
people still did it so (not me) so I am on university at the last place to come out from that area, and there are 6 Oficers and like 12 cars lined up, they had it set up like a production line!
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Stopping multiple cars is spooky, I once had an 18 wheeler with out of adjustment brakes plow into the last of four cars I was stopping.
99% of TX DPS run on the edges of the Ka band, most of you detectors are channeled in the center of the freq, I get a lot of folks that either thier detector never went off or it didn't go off until I was right on them.
To be certified in Texas to run Radar you must be able to estimate speed very well. You have to be within 5 mph either way. I know when someone is running before I ever turn on the Radar.
Capt. A there are two reasons we don't lock in the Radar. One is so that we can check multiple cars, ie a line of traffic. If you lock it in you loose the display. The second is safety. As Mav said traffic stops are very dangerous. In order for you to see the Radar display on my dash you have to be inbetween me and my patrol car at some point. That means that you are between me and my life-line (radio)/extra weapons and ammo/escape vehicle. I know from experience that not everyone you stop out there is just pissed about the ticket, they are looking to distract you from something else that is going on.
We traffic cops are not all bad guys, but we do have a job to do. Work a few accidents that people die in that speed was a major contributing factor and you will develop a callose too.
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Originally posted by Tarmac
Beetle, I was in the Thames Valley police station (the one in Reading) a while ago studying the British police. I was amazed by the network of cameras that were in the city, and the amazing coverage and detail they were capable of. These cameras were controlled, with full zoom and 360 rotation, from a command room in the police station. Do these highway speed cameras tie into that network, or are they purely for taking pictures of licence plates? Could they be used for real-time feeds of information if needed?
Damn, Tarmac! That's about 6 miles from my house! Call me next time. :)
The main highways (both motorways and major A-roads) have those cameras. The police use them to monitor traffic so that they can deploy officers and other emergency services to the scene of an accident. These same cameras help police in a control room to relay traffic information to roadside transmitters. This traffic info can be picked up by passing traffic equipped with TrafficMaster™. I have a TrafficMaster Freeway unit mounted on the dash in my car, and I turn it on when I'm about to travel on a motorway or other major highway. A female robotic voice says "TrafficMaster" to confirm that the system is active. Then, when driving along, each time I pass one of the roadside transmitters, the system beeps. That beep signals that the data has been updated and that the road ahead is clear. If I then press a button, the same voice will report my position, eg. "You are travelling westbound on M4 towards junction 6. Traffic flowing freely." If there is a snarl up ahead of me (the system is smart enough not to report problems behind me) the voice pipes up automatically to report the problem. Just the other day I was headed east on the M40 towards the M25 (encircles London) and was about to take M25 clockwise to J19 to get to Watford. The automatic warning was something like "You are travelling eastbound on M40 towards juntion 3. M25 anticlockwise, very slow traffic between junction 16 and junction 13. Expect 5 minute delay. M25 clockwise, traffic flowing freely. M40 eastbound, traffic flowing freely". There are varying degrees of severity - I've heard 30 minutes delay, and even "...stationary traffic for 6 miles. Avoid". These messages help the user to modify the planned route to avoid the problem area.
But you have to avoid overreacting to TrafficMaster. Sometimes an alternate route can be worse than toughing it out for 5 minutes on the motorway.
You can find out how it all works at the TrafficMaster™ (http://www.trafficmaster.co.uk) website. If you go to "Products", you can see the Freeway unit like the one I have. I just use batteries for mine, but it can be wired into the car's electrical system.
The M25 motorway is known as Europe's largest car park - lol. Very heavy traffic, especially near London Heathrow Airport. A system of variable speed limits exists. Typically, the limit will be 60. Heavy traffic will cause this to reduce to 50 or even less. It's four lanes in each direction in that area, and every lane is monitored by camera. You get busted if you break the variable speed limit.
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Heh, it was about a year and a half ago; I don't think I read the AH BB back then. Didn't know ya. :)
The assistant chief constable of the TVP got his Master's degree from my university; the professor who chaired his thesis took a group of students over there for a month and a half long program to study your system. This professor is extremely well-connected in the international intelligence community so he got us into some places that would normally be off limits to the public. A very educational trip.
And that's pretty cool as far as traffic flow control goes, except for the enforcement aspect. That's a bit too big brother for me (and probably most Americans). But that's what we said when we were in the camera control room, and it's exactly what the assistant chief constable there expected us to say. :D
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Originally posted by drone
Try the Phaser --they are quickly becoming illegal --they dont detect --they interfer with both radar and lazer, by spoofing the computers in the detection devices--think you can still order them on-line
Yes and I've got a bridge you might be interested in.
Phasers are a plastic case with a blinking LED and a speaker to make a sound when you turn it on. The only thing they get is laughs from the cops when they see you with it.
Total and utter scam.
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LOL Agreed, stuff from Rocky Mountain would have to be one of the biggest scams out in the industry.
Just drive something fast like a sports bike, even if he captures you on his radar, by the time he drops his doughnut and put's down his coffee you'll be long gone. Eh Concho
...-Gixer
~Hells Angels~
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Originally posted by Sandman_SBM
The CHP can and do use radar. In the past, they had a policy of not purchasing any, but if the local government wished to provide them with the equipment, they would use it. Nowadays, I think they actually purchase them.
Willie Brown (who ran the Ca. State Legislature for a very long time) loved to speed in his Porsche, so he would not allow the CHP to purchase radar.
Term limits finally forced Willie out, so now the CHP has radar but they don't use it very often. They mainly use it on certain highways that have lots of accidents.
Use of radar by the local police in Ca. is regulated, they can't give out radar tickets unless the speed limit posted is in the 85th percentile or above the average speed on the road.
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Originally posted by Gixer
LOL Agreed, stuff from Rocky Mountain would have to be one of the biggest scams out in the industry.
Just drive something fast like a sports bike, even if he captures you on his radar, by the time he drops his doughnut and put's down his coffee you'll be long gone. Eh Concho
...-Gixer
~Hells Angels~
got a nice spike strip fer yer sport bike :D
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Originally posted by miko2d
capt. apathy: that can be beat. these local ordanances go against federal law. (the fcc stuff ... since all a detector is doing is listening for a signal they can't be banned)
Has nothing to do with FCC. Localities can outlaw anything they want to.
It is illegal to own a bullet-proof vest in NYC. It does not emit anything, cannot hurt anyone, being light and soft. Cannot even be used to scare anyone. Cannot even be confused with anything dangerous. Nevertheless it's illegal.
miko
Local laws can be more strict than federal laws, however they cannot override the federal law.
Without looking up specific examples, the FCC laws states that any citizen has the lawful right to recieve any transmitted signal.
On the other hand, there is no federal law that says a citizen has the right to own a bullet-proof vest. Therefor, it is OK for a state to make such a law prohibiting it.