Do you use radar/laser detectors?

[andrewg]

I certainly don't have much to add to this thread.....but I'll answer the OP's question.
No, at present I do not use any sort of radar detection device. Why? Because I have a negative feeling toads them. For me they are a tool to assist in the violation of the law. I'm not comfortable with that and I would not think it ethical. But do I speed? In general terms not intentionally, no. I have gone over the limit for safety reasons (the avoidance of others driving erratically or some other rare instance). I think that if I was to have a detector in my vehicle (besides feeling unethical), I would have a temptation to break the law. So no, I don't want one nor do I have a need for one. The few individuals that I've known in my life that used them have the sole intention of speeding without suffering any legal consequences. As a matter of memory, every one of them had great difficulty in driving the legal speed limit for some reason. I have no such issue.

 

[Errtt]

I don't think I drive any different with a detector. I go with the flow but usually limit myself to 5-6 over posted depending where I'm at. The detector when is goes off (usually Ka), just gets me to glance at speed and usually drop down a little and that has paid off at times (had others near me maintain and got snagged).
Not saying I've never deserved a speeding ticket. Just never got one (yet) in about 37 years of driving. A detector wakes me when I let my situational awareness go lax at times.
And it's a toy too... like gps, CB etc.

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

I used to have one when I first started driving, but it broke and I never replaced it. It was never useful though. It was a Cobra so it wasn't that good. I usually saw the cop before it started beeping. And as long as you're not in a hicksville, the police in FL usually don't care if you're going ten over. Most of the speed traps are in north Florida. They must depend on tickets for revenue there because speed limits will oscillate between a faster and slower speed for miles on a stretch of road for no reason. I haven't gotten a ticket since I started driving in 2003. The incessant beeping on my old one everytime I passed an automatic door drove me crazy.

 

[NHHEMI]

Originally Posted By: Garak
Originally Posted By: DBMaster
Agree or disagree? If speed enforcement has any effect on safety it is negative. From what I observe and what I have been reading in this topic, it seems like others observe the same thing. You're either a sociopathic law-breaker or a martyr.

I think we simply have too much polarization on the issue. Yes, from an enforcement standpoint, speeders are low hanging fruit. It's easy to catch speeders and the technology has been around long enough that it's relatively simple to obtain convictions, even if the matter does get disputed in court. The same thing applies for seat belt use. It's easy to catch.

It's very easy to complain that a department or jurisdiction has quotas or is targeting speeders for revenue. That's certainly possible. The simpler explanation is that the easiest offences to find and ticket are speeding and failure to wear seat belts.

Additionally, we do have to remember one thing. Radar and its ilk (and even watching for seatbelt infractions) are also tools. When people are hauling around drugs or stolen property or driving stolen vehicles or have warrants for their arrest or have no insurance, they tend to get caught because of something very simple. They're speeding, not wearing a seatbelt, or they're driving something that needs a safety inspection (or a crusher).

There's always the refrain that the traffic officer should be going after the "real criminals." This, of course, ignores the fact that "real criminals" also drive vehicles and disobey speed limits.

 

[cptbarkey]

without you speeders out there i'm sure our municipalities would be much more poor, or they would have taxed something else. keep it up fellas.

 

[SteveSRT8]

speeding is simply a tax that you vote for with your foot!

 

[d00df00d]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
speeding is simply a tax that you vote for with your foot!

I've often said that I'd be in favor of graduated driver licensing, where a higher level requires a fee, better driver training, and a more rigorous vehicle inspection regime, but also permits higher speeds. If it's doable for cops, it should be doable for regular citizens, too.

 

[DBMaster]

Ha, around here if the cops aren't rushing off to some emergency, they drive slightly below the speed limit to enjoy the fun of seeing traffic back up behind them since everybody seems to be scared to pass a cop. If I can make it up to the front of the mess I will pass. Then, all of a sudden, others discover that they have testicles after all.

 

[NHHEMI]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
speeding is simply a tax that you vote for with your foot!


That right there is funny. I don't care who you are.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: DBMaster
Ha, around here if the cops aren't rushing off to some emergency, they drive slightly below the speed limit to enjoy the fun of seeing traffic back up behind them since everybody seems to be scared to pass a cop.

Or, because we in North American society love to complain about and/or sue everyone we feel has wronged us, they're being fastidious about following the limit. I'm sure everyone in here has heard about (or voiced themselves) the gripe that a patrol car was speeding without lights and sirens. Some will even phone in and complain. So, if an officer stays below the limit and his dash cam records his speed all the time, any complaints are obviously false, and possibly even malicious.

 

[SlipperyPete]

I imagine they drive under the speed limit hoping to keep from leading a parade down the road.

 

[DBMaster]

It's not the cop's fault. It's the other drivers' fault for being morons. If I were in the patrol car I would pull the driver in the left lane over for not using the passing lane for its intended purpose. Good thing I'm not a cop. I would need no speed detection equipment to give out LOTS of tickets. Not that doing so would do anything important or lasting.

 

[javacontour]

I just use the GPS now. It tells me the posted limit and I'm usually at the limit or not much over.

10+ years ago, I was 20+ over the limit and it was just too stressful. I like to quickly accelerate to speed and then try to maintain that speed.

I save my "speeding" for curves and exit ramps and try to do the limit or double the posted recommended speed depending on traffic and conditions. I.E. if the ramp says 25 and I'm in a 55+ limit area, you bet I'm going to try to maintain 55 should conditions warrant it's safe to do so.

Anyone can mash the throttle and go fast in a straight line

I take it to the next level and try to go fast in the curves.

 

[DBMaster]

My favorite rule of thumb for curves that have the yellow "suggested speed" signs is to subtract five and double the result. That usually gives you a good, safe max speed - unless, it's slippery, of course.

 

[threeputtpar]

Originally Posted By: DBMaster
There is a relatively small town on Hwy 174 between Burleson and Cleburne call Joshua. What I am about to state is NO JOKE or ANECDOTE. When I lived in Fort Worth and my ex-wife had to drive to Cleburne for her job I noticed that there was a speed limit sign that indicated a drop in the speed limit of 10-15mph (don't recall the exact numbers). The city would MOVE the sign periodically, changing the effective zone by a few hundred yards. Every time they moved the sign further out a patrol car would be positioned to take advantage of the new revenue source. I kid you not!

Perhaps they don't do this anymore. I am talking about the early 90's.

I call that behavior criminal and reprehensible.


I don't know about Texas law, but in Wisconsin when the speed limit drops at least 10mph there has to be a warning sign posted at least a certain distance before the lowered limit.

Anyone else's state have a law like this? I've actually used it to get out of one ticket a long time ago, since there was not warning sign posted.

 

[SHOZ]

Illinois requires this. And they cannot enforce a speed limit where it has changed within 500' of the change.

 

[Nick R]

I don't know about a law, but there are plenty of "reduced speed ahead" signs here in NY.

 

[HerrStig]

Here we go again. Traffic engineers have a procedure for setting safe speed limits which involves measuring speeds on a particular road and making a mathematical determination of which speed is safest. The procedure is reliable, and usually ignored by half bleep politicians, bureaucrats, and insurance stooges.
Since there IS a system which is ABLE to set a safe limit, and since the procedure is intentionally IGNORED most of the time, I see no "ethical" reason NOT to protect myself with a detector.
I have some autocrossing in my driving career and I have an understanding of vehicle dynamics. I can get a car around a corner OK and stop on a wet road with or without ABS to "help". Nevertheless, the biggest danger I see out there on the highway are moron distracted drivers paying NO attention to what might be around them and doing INTENTIONALLy stupid things like tailgating, and making the famous passing lane to exit swan dive.
Since I see little or NO attempt by "law enforcement" to deal with this type of moving violation, as opposed to "revenue enhancement" by hiding behind a bush and handing out "speeding" tickets on roads where the proper and safe limit might be 10 to 15 mph higher, I say use your detector, your CB (with stealth antenna) and anything else you can rely on to avoid it.
Most of our interstate highway system was designed for 65 plus, especially in rural areas. When Aunt Tilly "doesn't feel safe" at a speed while peering through the steering wheel of her Crown Vic through Coke bottle glasses and whines to the local political hack the rest of us suffer in time lost and fines paid so that, among other things, Aunt Tilly can feel "more safer".
That's the gist of it. How long Aunt Tilly would last on the "unrestricted sections" of the Autobahns is an interesting question. Darwin would, once again, be proved right, even though the accident rates on the "Bahn" even in metro areas are LOWER than ou out RURAL interstates.
Cars are better than ever, yet the sheep drive like madmen between enforcement areas, and let themselves be herded into grudging compliance when in them from the fear of having their pockets picked. We go, on average, slower and slower and are told we would be safe if we went slower still. At some point we'll all be parked out there and the accident rate will be zero.

 

[DBMaster]

Around here, we are already parked a lot of the time and will be spending more and more time in that condition. It's called gridlock. I wonder what method will be used to give out citations when speeding is impossible?

 

[HerrStig]

Originally Posted By: DBMaster
Around here, we are already parked a lot of the time and will be spending more and more time in that condition. It's called gridlock. I wonder what method will be used to give out citations when speeding is impossible?
Perhaps citations for travel UNDER the limit.... "You waz holdin up traffic".