Lotta miles using radar detectors -- they detect 3 different bands of radar and some "detect laser." Radar detectors are great insurance, and more useful on the open highway than they are in town, but I've not seen a vehicle give off Ka band emissions that wasn't law enforcement. I have noticed that newer Honda cars set off the K band, which is also used by a lot of the cheap lightpole "your speed" I've seen. Very rarely still I will see X band speed radar being used in the middle of nowhere where the cop cars are older.
Radar detector users just learn to ignore the X and K band alerts while simultanously learning a subconscious quarter second brake reaction time based on the Ka band noise.
dreamcompiler 2 hours ago [-]
Exactly. I haven't encountered a cop using X band since the 1990s. All X band signals I see now are door openers at grocery stores.
And yeah, a K band zap in the middle of nowhere usually means there's a Honda nearby.
technick 1 hours ago [-]
All of that noise is K band and soon to be spread out across 77 ghz, outside of the bands being used by law enforcement (for now). If you take high velocity seriously, I recommend getting a Uniden R9 and a ALPriority Laser Jammer system. Then add in a dedicated android tablet running Highway Radar, you'll be a hard target to target. Also get a pair of binoculars (bonus points if they're thermal).
I haven't had a speeding ticket since 2018, before I had my tools. Just this week I was averaging 120 mph across Utah, turned my 11 hour trip into 8 hours.
cowthulhu 19 minutes ago [-]
My understanding is that in most jurisdictions a laser jammer is a magic device that transmutes a speeding ticket into a complementary trip to jail
elric 2 hours ago [-]
Instead of radar, more and more places are installing ANPR (aka ALPR) cameras here. They measure how long it taked you to drive between two locations, if it's faster than the speed limit, the fine will find you. Tiny Belgium already has more than 5k ANPR cameras.
Predictably, the system is being (ab)used for all kinds of monitoring and tracking on top of speed enforcement. And in a certain sense, all those irresponsibly fast drivers with radar detectors are partially responsible for the further erosion of privacy on the road.
Dylan16807 2 hours ago [-]
It sure doesn't sound like those systems were built to go after irresponsibly fast drivers.
elric 2 hours ago [-]
That was their original intent, but of course, once you have a dense network of cameras that can sort of reliably track individuals, people find all sorts of other uses for them.
Dylan16807 2 hours ago [-]
You're sure it wasn't largely to milk fines from people going slightly over? What was the initial threshold for fines? What is it now?
elric 25 minutes ago [-]
Irrelevant. Speed kills. Slower is better.
technick 1 hours ago [-]
This is easily managed by hiding your license plates. I haven't shown my real license plate in years (It has a ping identity sticker on it) and no plans on doing so, it's to protect my own privacy.
maest 17 minutes ago [-]
Protecting ones privacy comes with the incidental side effect of making it difficult for society to penalize one for not abiding by the rules.
Bank robbers wear ski masks for similar privacy concerns.
yugioh3 3 hours ago [-]
good. speed kills. off highways, speeding is particularly dangerous for pedestrians, cyclists, and other drivers.
unshavedyak 3 hours ago [-]
I just wish cops would actually do that more frequently. My local interstate is basically only trapped during a small window a day, easy to memorize.
I don’t blame people for speeding when we care so little as to actually monitor and enforce. Especially when it’s easy to automate.
Dylan16807 2 hours ago [-]
I'm pretty sure the context here was not off highways.
LtWorf 2 hours ago [-]
If you've ever driven in italy you know that velocity is normally measured in a 100km/h road, right after a 20km/h sign that was there for no other reason than to fine people. For bonus points the sign can be hidden behind a bush or can be so old and faded nobody knows what it says.
wolfi1 2 hours ago [-]
in most of Europe these detectors are forbidden, I tend to drive within the speed limit, much safer
aussieguy1234 3 hours ago [-]
These detectors have been illegal in Australia for as long as I can remember. But with apps like Waze and TomTom Amigo, I probably don't need them. I can see where all the speed cameras are and police get reported on the map fairly quickly (I also contribute to these reports, let's subvert government power together)
dreamcompiler 2 hours ago [-]
There are quite a number of areas in the rural US where there's no cell coverage. In these places Waze won't help you, but radar detectors still work.
gwbas1c 3 days ago [-]
If anyone's still reading this: As I read this, I think it makes more sense for the police to replace radar with a high-resolution camera and a computer that can determine speed of vehicles.
Any thoughts on that?
EA-3167 3 days ago [-]
It's hard to find exact stats because of how procurement and statistics works across jurisdictions, states, etc... but from what I CAN find it seems that LIDAR is more common than Radar these days. Over the whole country it looks like a slight majority lead for LIDAR, but in some (quite populous) states they almost only use LIDAR (PA for example had 93% of their tickets come from LIDAR, and I believe most of the rest used speed cameras or 'clocking' rather than RADAR).
LIDAR can't be used in motion, the LEO has to be stopped to be pointing it. Your laser detector will warn you, but it's already too late at that point; my two cents is using Waze/Google LEO alerts is state of the art at this point (until someone starts multilateration of patrol cars using their radio RF emissions and SDR networks).
bob1029 3 days ago [-]
> LIDAR can't be used in motion
To be clear, the reason for this is because the width of the beam requires aiming it like a sniper rifle, not because we can't compensate for operator motion.
misswaterfairy 2 hours ago [-]
Most speeding offences require the use of a speed measuring device to detect and 'prove' an offence. However, a number of jurisdictions have a separate offence where 'speeding' can still be charged, including 'in motion', without lidar or radar.
For example an officer following or pursuing an offender can apply a 'negligent' or 'wreckless' driving charge based in context of the officer's observations and evidence gathered, such as following or pursuing an offender well above the speed limit, observing the calibrated speedometer in the patrol car, without the use of a speed measuring device.
It's been a while since I've looked at it though some Australian police forces have a calibrated speedometer installed on the dash that reads out the vehicle's speed based from the rear differential[1], separately to the vehicle's 'stock' speedometer. The reasoning, I understand, is that this is more precise, as legally the stock speedometer can display a speed up to 10 km/h lower than actual (but not above).
This is why I don't see LIDAR used much in the western US. Cops are lazy like everybody else and they'd rather fish with a net. Radar is a net. LIDAR is a speargun. It's too much work.
netsharc 3 days ago [-]
It's fine... if you're fine with constant video surveillance.
gwbas1c 3 days ago [-]
There's a huge difference between a network of cameras on a road, versus a device that an officer has to set up and take down.
Its like the dumbest product manager meme. “Humans use eyes for this right, why can’t our gadget?” “It must work at night? Oh we will just use a thermal camera” “Pixels in an image are not all from the same time instant? We will just pay 10x for a global shutter camera”
The list goes on and on and on. No, they will not just be replaced by whatever is producing loose AI facsimiles of the real world in a smartphone.
adgjlsfhk1 3 hours ago [-]
you can also just use a normal rolling shutter camera at a higher frame rate and blur the frames together.
foxglacier 2 hours ago [-]
Average speed cameras exist and are basically that. ANPR at two locations and measure the time it took you to get between them. It's actually more fair because an occasional accidental overspeed won't get you but continuous speeding will.
steve_gh 3 days ago [-]
...or you could drive sensibly within the speed limit.
marssaxman 3 days ago [-]
Which one is it, driving sensibly or driving within the speed limit?
Spivak 3 hours ago [-]
Yeah the internet it weird about speed limits for some reason meanwhile the moment you drive on real roads in the US you lean very quickly, even explicitly if you did in-cars in driver's ed, that the posted speed limit is the minimum.
devilbunny 3 days ago [-]
Make the speed limit sensible, and I will.
I don't speed in Europe because 130 km/h is a perfectly fine limit; I've driven faster on uncontrolled Autobahn segments, but I'm not bothered when there is a limit. 65 mph on the NJ Turnpike (and only on the southern part) is not.
yugioh3 3 hours ago [-]
65mph is plenty fast. going beyond 70/75 is diminishing returns in the safety of other drivers, not to mention worse greenhouse emissions.
a crash at 80+ is so much worse than one at 65. and American highways are not the Autobahn. different design and engineering.
dkiebd 13 minutes ago [-]
Oh no, not the greenhouse emissions :((
rafram 2 hours ago [-]
If anything, American highways are wider and straighter than the Autobahn.
The_President 3 days ago [-]
There are back roads out there that drop 15 mph at the state line with no population around for miles. Detectors offer peace of mind for travel at a leisurely self-determined rate.
That being said, "speed culture" varies a lot from state to state. Where I live it's assumed and expected that you will speed, and in other areas you can get a ticket for going 1 over.
The legal and cultural ambiguity means that someone who is unsure of the real, enforced, culturally-accepted speed limit may want to use a radar detector.
rogerrogerr 3 hours ago [-]
Yup, in Idaho you’re pretty much expected to do +5. I swear they figure out the proper speed and subtract five from it. Going the speed limit will get you run over.
dmd 3 days ago [-]
There are roads here that “feel” like a 35 or even 45mph road. The speed limit is 7. Yes, 7. It’s purely for local revenue.
vasco 3 hours ago [-]
Can of spray and a night off and they all become 70
bsder 3 days ago [-]
Then set the limits properly at the 85% mark. And ban speed limit fines from going into local coffers.
01HNNWZ0MV43FF 3 hours ago [-]
Dare I ask what the 85% mark is?
HeyLaughingBoy 3 days ago [-]
...on the long (9 miles to the next town), straight county road just by my house with a 50 mph speed limit that sees maybe 1 car per minute on average. There's a reason that the average speed there is 65mph+
Radar detector users just learn to ignore the X and K band alerts while simultanously learning a subconscious quarter second brake reaction time based on the Ka band noise.
And yeah, a K band zap in the middle of nowhere usually means there's a Honda nearby.
I haven't had a speeding ticket since 2018, before I had my tools. Just this week I was averaging 120 mph across Utah, turned my 11 hour trip into 8 hours.
Predictably, the system is being (ab)used for all kinds of monitoring and tracking on top of speed enforcement. And in a certain sense, all those irresponsibly fast drivers with radar detectors are partially responsible for the further erosion of privacy on the road.
Bank robbers wear ski masks for similar privacy concerns.
I don’t blame people for speeding when we care so little as to actually monitor and enforce. Especially when it’s easy to automate.
Any thoughts on that?
Sources:
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/TR/Transcripts/2018_00...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidar_traffic_enforcement
https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/lidar-sp...
To be clear, the reason for this is because the width of the beam requires aiming it like a sniper rifle, not because we can't compensate for operator motion.
For example an officer following or pursuing an offender can apply a 'negligent' or 'wreckless' driving charge based in context of the officer's observations and evidence gathered, such as following or pursuing an offender well above the speed limit, observing the calibrated speedometer in the patrol car, without the use of a speed measuring device.
It's been a while since I've looked at it though some Australian police forces have a calibrated speedometer installed on the dash that reads out the vehicle's speed based from the rear differential[1], separately to the vehicle's 'stock' speedometer. The reasoning, I understand, is that this is more precise, as legally the stock speedometer can display a speed up to 10 km/h lower than actual (but not above).
[1] https://www.drive.com.au/news/inside-a-highway-patrol-car-th...
The list goes on and on and on. No, they will not just be replaced by whatever is producing loose AI facsimiles of the real world in a smartphone.
I don't speed in Europe because 130 km/h is a perfectly fine limit; I've driven faster on uncontrolled Autobahn segments, but I'm not bothered when there is a limit. 65 mph on the NJ Turnpike (and only on the southern part) is not.
a crash at 80+ is so much worse than one at 65. and American highways are not the Autobahn. different design and engineering.
That being said, "speed culture" varies a lot from state to state. Where I live it's assumed and expected that you will speed, and in other areas you can get a ticket for going 1 over.
The legal and cultural ambiguity means that someone who is unsure of the real, enforced, culturally-accepted speed limit may want to use a radar detector.