Radar Detector Shopper

Chances are, no matter how careful you drive, there will be at least one point in your life that you are pulled over for speeding. Most people don’t mean to speed excessively but are compelled to when drivers around them are going faster than the speed limit and no one other than your grandmother wants to be the person holding everyone up.

There are several ways that you can help yourself get out of a speeding ticket, but none are guaranteed. There are just too many variables involved including the officer that pulled you over, the offense for which he pulled you, your reaction to his arrest (any time you are stopped it is considered an arrest), his current mood, and the perceived danger that you were posing to your surroundings while speeding.

However, in spite of all of these variables, you can potentially turn the odds in your favor by following a few guidelines:

1. Drive a relatively non-descript vehicle. No, you don’t have to go out and buy a Buick just to avoid speeding tickets, but loud colors and heavy modifications create a persona of you that the officer will not be able to help pre-judging you on even before he steps up to your window. Clean cars, believe it or not, help as well. The more “put together” and professional you appear, the better your chances are of getting out of a ticket.
2. Don’t appear to be a threat to the officer. This is extremely important. Police officers never know what is going to happen on the most routine of traffic stops. When pulled over, make sure that your seat belt is buckled, roll down your window, and if you have them handy, pull out your license, registration, and insurance information. Have them in your hands which you will rest on the steering wheel. If you have to find these documents in your glove box or anywhere else in the car, remain still until the officer gets to your car and then look for them. Otherwise it may seem as if you are looking for a weapon.
3. Don’t concoct a crazy story. Police officers have heard it all before. Extreme cases of diarrhea, babies being born, late for an important job interview, etc. all count as crazy stories. It’s best to just be polite.
4. Don’t incriminate yourself. Believe it or not, the officer is probably not “out to get you” but will not hesitate to allow you to hang yourself with your own words. When asked “Do you know how fast you were going?” just politely state that you were doing the posted speed limit. When the officer counters with, “Well I clocked you going…miles per hour” remain calm and politely state that your odometer read that you were going the posted speed limit.This is an exclusive article for Radar Detector Shopper about Speeding Tickets

Chances are very good that at some point or other you will get a speeding ticket at some point in your life. Speed limits are not made to be broken, exactly, but sometimes it certainly seems as if they are. Many of America’s roads and highways have speed limits that are broken so much that it seems to be acceptable as long as the speed is not excessive. It is sort of an unwritten rule that motorists can drive up to five or even ten miles an hour over the posted speed limit without too much worry that they will get pulled over. However, this is highly subjective and varies with every road, speed limit, town, and state.

Speed limits are typically set for safety reasons. Residential neighborhoods would hardly be safe if people were allowed to go as fast as they wanted where children are at play. Speed limits should also be enforced on curvy roads or roads that are prone to have water crossing them causing a lack of traction for motorists. For these reasons, proper law enforcement is expected to maintain the safety of the roads due to the environment that the roads go through. Purely for the sake of safety, motorists that travel above a safe speed limit should be punished in some way and the most obvious way is speeding tickets.

However, there are long stretches of interstate that are not frequently backed up with traffic but simply serve as paths to get from one remote location to another. Considering that most people will drive at a safe speed whether there are speed limits or not, there has always been criticism that the revenue that small towns and municipalities gain from catching speeders is a large part of why they enforce the laws so strictly. While handing out speeding tickets for punishment of breaking a law made for safety is certainly the right thing to do according to anyone, consistently writing speeding tickets for revenue is questionable, if not outright bad, governmental policy.

Of course, there are various ways of getting out of speeding tickets but there is no doubt that the entire process of speed regulation may be flawed or at least skewed on the side of government abuse. However, until reform is made across the entire country, which is an unlikely prospect, the most effective way to effectively beat speeding tickets - even the seemingly lawless ones - is to ensure that you do not get caught.

This is an exclusive article for Radar Detector Shopper about Speeding Tickets

Radar detectors are electronic devices that are typically mounted to the dash or windshield of the automobile that alert drivers to the fact that their speed is being monitored through the use of audible and visual alerts. Radar detectors are named after the now antiquated technology that law enforcement used to utilize to monitor speed called a radar gun. Radar guns monitored speed through the use of a change in wave frequency that would be emitted and then bounced back to the gun. Modern law enforcement radar and consumer radar detectors are much more sophisticated.

Modern radar detectors can detect a wide variety of wavelength bands including Ka, K, and X as well as LIDAR.

Rather than radar waves, modern speed detection devices utilize pulsed laser light or “LIDAR” (Light Detection and Ranging), which is also commonly called “laser detection.” In response, modern radar detector manufacturers have produced models that can detect this type of speed monitoring through the use of identifying the infrared light that is used by LIDAR. However, LIDAR is much harder to detect than radar because it utilizes the beam of a laser so more often than not, the modern radar detector is not effective until the LIDAR is beamed on the car that it is in.

In spite of LIDAR’s growing use, many law enforcement agencies continue to use radar as well so because of its ease of use, widespread availability, and relatively low cost. However, LIDAR use is on the rise as costs continue to decrease and a better understanding of the technology is acquired by police officials. Surprisingly enough, many insurance companies have found that they can increase revenue from charging higher premiums in areas where they supply the police force with LIDAR systems.

Radar detectors are illegal to have in some states in the United States and in several areas of Canada. U.S. states in which radar detectors are illegal include Virginia, Washington D.C. and on all U.S. military installations. There is proposed legislation to criminalize them in Florida and in California and Minnesota it is illegal to hang anything from the vehicle windshield.

This is an exclusive article for Radar Detector Shopper about Radar Detectors

If you have never used a radar detector before or have just purchased one, the multitude of flashing lights and assorted sounds can be more than a little confusing. Like many other devices that you grow accustomed to once you learn their idiosyncrasies, your will find that your radar detector is programmed a certain way to alert you of differing levels of danger of speed monitoring by law enforcement. This guide can help you better understand some of the alerts on radar detectors that have a 1 through 9 scale.

Generally, the lower end of the scale annotates a lower instance of risk of being detected while speeding. This means that if your radar detector alerts you to a reading of “1” you should have ample time to break and slow your speed down to the posted speed limit. Conversely, if you have a reading of “9” the officer may have already pegged and identified you as speeding.

If your radar detector alert is “1”: Look far into the distance, if possible. Begin breaking slowly to get down to legal speed limit. Be weary of speed detection for the next ½ mile.

If your radar detector alert is “3”: Begin breaking immediately to slow down to legal speed. Look for law enforcement speed detection for the next 1/3 mile.

If your radar detector alert is “5”: Begin breaking strongly, while ensuring safety. The police officer that is monitoring speed is within a few hundred yards and is likely targeting you.

If your radar detector alert is “7”: The police officer is almost definitely in site. He may be behind an upcoming overpass, a bush, or on a small, dirt road that connects the opposing lanes of the interstate. Take your foot off the accelerator immediately but do not break to ensure that you do not bring undue attention to yourself. The officer is likely targeting you but may be targeting a nearby car as well.

If your radar detector alert is “9”: You are likely the sole target of the police officer’s speed monitoring radar gun. Immediately remove your foot from the gas and attempt to coast to the legal speed limit. The police officer is likely within 100 feet.
This is an exclusive article for Radar Detector Shopper about Radar Detectors

There are many cases where you cannot drive with a radar detector. A few states have criminalized them and only the best radar detectors are effective at deterring speeding tickets in states that allow them. If you find yourself without an optimal radar detector or no radar detector at all, here are some tips that can help you avoid speeding tickets:

• Know the “acceptable” speed zones. This is usually between five and ten miles per hour above the speed limit. For instance, if the speed limit is 55 miles per hour, it may be acceptable to speed up to 64 miles per hour. If the speed limit is 65 miles per hour, stay under 80. If the speed limit is 70 miles per hour, be sure to stay under 80 as well, since that seems to be a “magic number” for an automatic ticket.
• Stay with the pack. There is an unspoken, accepted level of speeding on some roads and highways that are considered normal and the “regular flow of traffic.” Staying with the flow of the rest of the cars will make you much less conspicuous and less likely to get pulled over.
• Stay alert. Be aware of all of your surroundings. Look at the sides of the road in front of you for any foliage or obstructions that could possibly hid a waiting police cruiser. Be extremely weary when coming down the slope of a bridge as well. “On ramps” on the interstate are always dangerous spots. If you happen to pass a cruiser while speeding, don’t panic. Take your foot off the gas immediately and let your car coast to a lower speed. If you see a parked cruiser in front of you then you can apply the brakes to slow down your car and possibly mess up his radar’s reading.
• Pull off the road. If you find yourself in the predicament that an oncoming officer has spotted you speeding and is turning around to pull you over, you may consider taking the next exit. You’re not going to run, necessarily, but you do want to get as far away from the officer as possible. If he happens to follow you, you can always pull over in a safe spot. If the officer asked why you didn’t pull over immediately, tell him that you have heard that the spot that he wanted to pull you over was dangerous and that you were looking for a safer spot for your safety and his. He or she may recognize your regard to safety and let you off with a warning.This is an exclusive article for Radar Detector Shopper about Radar Detectors and Speeding Tickets

Ever wondered how to prevent a speeding ticket without having a radar detector? The best way to prevent a speeding ticket without one would be what I refer to as brake reading, or reading brake lights.

This depends on two factors, however. One is that you can determine whether or not the car or cars in front of you are braking because of a police officer (cop), or because of cars in front of them braking. The second factor is just knowing whether or not they’re just an elderly person braking because they think they’re going too fast.

But the bottom line is, this method works. I use it daily, even with my radar detector. Reading brake lights is one of the most sure-fire way to avoid a VASCAR and other non-detector speed clocking methods.

So the first tip I’m going to give about this is how to read the brake lights and determine what is what.

Some people will brake hard, one time. This is often an indicator that there is a cop ahead. If you see the rear of the car rise a little bit like it was a hard brake, often they saw the cop and it scared the driver, therefore throwing their left foot onto the brake.

The second is not often seen, but when it is, you know it’s worth listening to. The second type is for the generous drivers that see or know that there is a police officer ahead, and therefore brake in patterns to alert you. I often tap my brakes in groups of 2 or three. This alerts people behind me that I’m not braking randomly, nor is it an emergency - but I am alerting them to slow down.

I also do this for accidents, obstacles in the road, etc. Sometimes your radar detector can’t help you see a problem ahead, however other people being scared just may alert you to the “hidden”.

A radar jammer is a device that is mounted or carried in an automobile for the purpose of scrambling, jamming, or otherwise interfering with the radar or laser speed detection methods used by law enforcement. Radar jammers work using an active signal and are illegal in all fifty of the United States, Canada, and most of Europe.

The method of radar jamming utilizes an active signal that is broadcast from the vehicle and is intended to muffle or scramble the law enforcement official’s radar gun results. The jamming signal is emitted from a radio transmitter which closely mimics or replicates the signal broadcast from the radar gun and sends it back to the gun convoluted with added radio “white” noise that purportedly confuses the detection device so that an accurate reading is impossible.

The effectiveness of both radar jammers are highly disputed between law enforcement agencies, consumers, automobile publications, and the radar jammer manufacturers. Law enforcement agencies have tried to dissuade consumers from buying radar jammers not only because they are illegal because they emit a signal that is intended to interfere with the radar guns but also as self-appointed consumer advocates. Some agencies go so far as to show footage of select radar jammers failing miserably in police-run tests. The credibility of these tests is often questioned by consumer advocates and, naturally, the radar manufacturers.

The effectiveness of radar jammers continues to be in question, however. For instance, many motorists notice that roadside trailers used by law enforcement to alert drivers of their speeds can always detect their speeds. Radar jammer manufacturers claim that these devices use a different technology than what is used by conventional radar guns but law enforcement is adamant that the technology is the same.

Additionally, many consumers are convinced of their jammer’s effectiveness because of the manufacturers’ guarantee that it will pay for up to $100 in whatever speeding fines a customer is charged. However, considering that manufacturing costs of the items are rarely more than twenty dollars and they sell for well over three hundred dollars, the manufacturer can pay a $100 ticket for every customer that they have and still turn a profit.

Effective or not, radar jammers are continuously increasing in popularity as the lure of driving fast still hits many Americans each day, insurance premiums rise, and traffic ticket penalties become stiffer.

This blog is dedicated to speeding tickets, radar detectors, radar jammers, and how to avoid getting those pesky fines.