jaholmes

Which bearcat scanner are you using. I have long debated getting a hand held trunking scanner.

Chuck W.

As far as call them idiots I have to take exception. They are not. The vast majority are hard working professionals that would lay their lives on the line for you. Here in California in 6 years (2001 to 2006) 81 officers died in the line of duty. Some were traffic officers.

2ndof2

So I was looking at going to a little RL get-together at the end of the month that starts at the Gladstone's parking lot and goes through the Santa Monica mountains over to the coffee roaster in the Calabasas area. Apparently there is some sort of crackdown going on against speeders in those hills by CHP who as written above have apparently purchased a number of LIDAR units. I have already seen one such unit in use by a motorcycle CHP on the 101 near Carpinteria but was in my truck that has a cheapo Uniden radar/lazer detector. I can't recall if it went off or not because the volume was way low and I generally do not speed much in my truck - check that...ever (wink wink). My question is this: How well do V1's detect the LIDAR system that CHP uses? I don't want to be lulled into false confidence using my V1 in the p-car for the trip through the hills in a week or so. Any opinions on this? This was the link about the particular LIDAR unit being used by CHP as indicated by tj90's earlier post.

http://www.guysoflidar.com/lti-ultralyte.html

2ndof2

Bueler...anyone?

dcdude

Sorry, Traffic is still chicken-isht duty. Cops should focus on criminals, like they do in Europe, where law-abiding citizens don't need to be constantly checking in their mirrors and over their shoulders--ironically, a resulting dangerous behavior.

As far as a cop someday pulling me from a burning wreck, etc.? I'd much perfer to take my chances, if given the choice.

Amfab

Chuck, let just say a Hypothetical Rennlister was converting from a stock exhaust to LPMMS.
And this Hypothetical Rennlister happened to be a recording engineer with access to quality microphones so he decided to make a quality recorded audio comparison of the stock exhaust to the LPMMS for others to make the decision of which exhaust to go with.
And this hypothetical Rennlister knew of this hypothetical spot on Mulholland in Calabasas that is pretty quiet in the late evenings has a speed limit of 45mph.
Would there possibly be any Hypothetical ex-law enforcement officers who lived within, oh, 6 or 7 miles of this spot, with perhaps another type of exhaust on their 993, maybe, oh, i dunno, Supercups? Who would participate in doing a drive by on this spot in Mullholland at 60 or 70 mph to get a comparison recording, even though this would hypothetically be breaking the law?
(Even though the City of Calabasas had entertained raising the speed limit on this stretch of road to 55 mph 2 years ago because they felt it was safe to do so, but local residents complained so they kept it at 45mph?)
I mean this is all hypothetical of course . . .

dotcomhusker

Well my grandfather was a police officer, rest his soul. In his life a detective assigned to the bomb squad and homicide among others. Anyway, I remember a lot of what he used to tell me.

First, speeders have a higher than average probability of having something else to raise an eyebrow about. Unlikely to be applied as much to the members of this forum, but across the board nonetheless.

Second, the traffic cop of today probably is working to be something else tomorrow and would be doing something else on his shift if he could. He'd likely much rather be catching drug dealers in the hood, but doesn't have that choice. Many though, tell themselves over and over that the speeder they pull over could be guy who just sold drugs to some kiddies or beat his girlfriend to death the previous night, etc. And, of course, they ARE sometimes, and regrettably these officers sometimes lose their lives doing a job that they really didn't like all that much.

Third, many cops are in their line of work for the wrong reason. He said cops and politicians should be positions for which people are drafted. They served their duty for a brief period, and were released, like military service. People would serve as a cop or politician out of a feeling of duty to country, even though they really didn't WANT the job. But most importantly anyone who would VOLUNTEER for such a job has issues. I'm sure he was just facetiously generalizing, since it would have been a self-condemnation. LOL.

Fourth, traffic tickets are big money for the city/state/county and so ain't going away anytime soon. Of course is no big freaking surprise.

1 & 2, yay. 3 & 4 ick. It's really up to those responsible for allocation of law enforcement budget and resources. Does it make sense for an area with high violent crime to have an high number of cops giving traffic tickets? Well, no. Does that mean they shouldn't give any more tickets out until there are no more drug dealers and gat-toting thugs? Of course, no.

Incidentally, I used to love when my Granddad got pulled over. The look on the cop's face when they found out who he was (he had bagged some pretty high-profile bad guys). Be nice if we had that kind of pull... beats the V1 all to hell.

Guess there's no real point to this, so please forgive my drolling on... just my two cents.-j

JM993

I agree with Chuck. I spend as much time watching my mirrors, not to mention craning my neck after every freeway onramp as I do looking forward. I'm all for officers watching out from drunks, tailgaters etc. Ultimately, they have the discretion to enforce the laws they want to. And it kills me that the one law I've never seen enforced is the "left for passing" law. Enforce this law and you'll eliminate a number of dangerous behaviors (tailgating, unsafe lane changes, etc).

But instead many traffic cops focus on drivers who may be driving safely but are in technical violation of the law. Why? Because it's easier than actually using your brain and really taking the time to decipher where the real danger is. And to add insult to injury, I can't tell you how many times I see traffic cops (especially motor officers) blatantly exceeding the speed limit when not on a call. Hypocrites. Makes me sick to think we pay the salaries of these jerks.

Of course, this is my .02. But what do I know, I've been driving for 20+ years, have accumulated many tickets but no accidents.

stubenhocker

What is more dangerous, a Geo Metro at 55 or a Pcar at 85?
That's what I hate about speed enforcement! If the driver isn't reckless, aggressively changing lanes, tailgating etc., then leave them alone if they are driving a capable car! This one size fits all is a steaming pants load.
I will go along with equality in traffic rules and enforcement as soon as we begin paying the equal fees for license tags etc.

dcdude

I put in almost a thousand miles on the Autopista in Italy in a 96HP Citroen C5. I knew my place, exhibited proper Lane Discipline and stayed the hell out of the PASSING lane, especially with P-cars and M-Bs bearing down, lights flashing. Loved every minute of it, and no Caribinieri to be seen anywhere. They were busy back in town, directing me to an ATM and advising that I stay out of the sun...Public Safety indeeed!

The average incoherent CA driver merges, automatically drifts over to his "rightful place" in the #1 lane, sets the cruise at 79 and goes to sleep, as if it's some entitled piece of real estate for him and his big dumb SUV.

Ahh...at least we can dream....

David in Chicago

The V1's a great piece and it does provide meaningful protection against laser. That said, laser's got a very narrow field and it's relatively low power. Thus, it's always a crap shoot and a really skilled laser operator should be able to whack his prey nearly every time, especially in light traffic (where you should otherwise be able to speed most easily and most safely).

Regards to all.

JPS

ALERT!

Don't get me started on lane discipline. Freaking ******** everywhere just sitting there like they own it, and even the flashing lights on approach do nothing. I need Speed Racer's super steering wheel with those giant saw blades to come out. People like that shouldn't have a license.

And why is it so damned easy to get a license? It isn't a right to drive, it is a privilege, and it should be damned hard to get one! Instead, you get people who can't parallel park to save their lives, don't understand the rules of the road, and park the cruise at the speed limit so they don't have to worry about anything except who is on the other end of their cell phone glued to their ear.

My freakin' landlord in SF said she drove with one foot on the brake at all times. And she wasn't Schumi with left foot braking...how did she get a license??!?!!! AAAHHAAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

alert over.

CAHRERA

I hear you Chuck W. and totally agree with you, especially now a days people are a lot bolder and crazier. I can't imagine the feeling you go through everytime you get out of the squad car when you pull over a speeder and don't know what to expect.

I haven't had a ticket in over 15+ years until I got the 993(2tickets because of my Stupidity) but everytime I get in that car I feel like people are either following me to closely or just want to race all the time, so I have to get out of there fast! Ok that's my poor excuse and I'm sticking to it.