Radar and a 911
#31
I have been pulled over 21 times in my life and have only received 3 tickets. I always speak politely and if I know the cop is coming after me I will pull over even before he is right up behind me. Several times I have been thanked by the cop for not making him chase me down. One thing I think has saved my bacon a lot is when I do get pulled over the first thing I tell the cop is that I am a concealed weapons holder. Whether I am packing or not I let them know that. It puts them at ease I think because they know they are dealing with a law abiding citizen and nothing bad is going to happen. Maybe it is just in my head, but I will take my ticket to pulled over average anytime.
I too always pull over immediately if I know I'm the one he's pulling out for. When I used to ride sportbikes I actually had one thank me for stopping and said if I had decided to run, he would have just given up. With about 40 or 45 (I lost count a few years ago) traffic stops throughout my lifetime, I have some entertaining stories.. Before State DMVs were linked, when I was in college, I actually had 3 active licenses at one time - one from the state my parents had just moved from, one from the state they moved to, and one from the state where I was in school. Whenever I got stopped, I'd produce a license from out of state and none of the points would transfer - those were the good old days (late 80s / early 90s).
#32
I use to run from the cops back in my stupid teenage years, but I was smart. I know this was very illegal, but I had switches installed into my first car, which was a Porsche, that turned off all rear lights and brake lights from behind so at night I was a ghost. You can’t pull over what you can’t see.
#33
#34
No doubt. I've practiced enough times where I can get mine off the mount in seconds and tuck the cable away. The mount is pretty well integrated with the rear view mirror and is hard to see by itself without the detector but If the LEO is sharp, he or she may still spot it and draw their own conclusion. Maybe wishful thinking but I suspect most look for the more common suction cup windshield mount and the cigarette lighter connection.
#35
As an authority on radar, I can tell you that the larger target, the SUV, will be seen by the police over a 997 any day. It's all about your radar cross-section. There is absolutely no comparison of a 997 to an SUV or a truck. Police are supposed to be TRAINED to know that so that they don't accidentally pull over the wrong guy. I got pulled over one night at 2 am in the far right lane doing an indicated 65 (which is 63) as I watched some white Japanese sedan in the far left high speed lane go whizzing by. He was probably doing 75. The guy stopped me. I was so adamant and pissed at the CHP that he just left me go. It may have been more of a "is the guy drinking?" type of stop, because of the hour. Having a Valentine I knew that he was radar-querying the cars at that area.
You have to be so careful to drive in such a way that you are not picked out of the clutter of cars as the law breaker. It's very hard because you need to be focused upon merely driving, but many Porsche drivers are targeted merely because of the make of car it is. You're aware of the observation that a Porsche "looks fast" even when parked? If you are a very conservative driver the best solution is one of those car-cams that are sold online that will record your speed and have a 360 camera capability. It you pull one of those out before an officer he will generally back down because he then knows that you have data that supports your argument. Sadly, I have found over the years that cops do lie about speed and other things before a judge so having something that is on a constant loop that records the last hour of driving until you need it is wise insurance.
With a radar detector in your car, place it as high as you can in the car to improve your detection range--it's all about line of sight. (Some built ins are located near the front grill to stay low profile, but that will sacrifice significant early range notification by enough to make a difference). If in a crowd of cars that are moving briskly along, try and let someone else be noticeably faster! I usually hug the slow lane as much as possible and only go into left lanes to pass, helping the perception that I'm going slower.
You have to be so careful to drive in such a way that you are not picked out of the clutter of cars as the law breaker. It's very hard because you need to be focused upon merely driving, but many Porsche drivers are targeted merely because of the make of car it is. You're aware of the observation that a Porsche "looks fast" even when parked? If you are a very conservative driver the best solution is one of those car-cams that are sold online that will record your speed and have a 360 camera capability. It you pull one of those out before an officer he will generally back down because he then knows that you have data that supports your argument. Sadly, I have found over the years that cops do lie about speed and other things before a judge so having something that is on a constant loop that records the last hour of driving until you need it is wise insurance.
With a radar detector in your car, place it as high as you can in the car to improve your detection range--it's all about line of sight. (Some built ins are located near the front grill to stay low profile, but that will sacrifice significant early range notification by enough to make a difference). If in a crowd of cars that are moving briskly along, try and let someone else be noticeably faster! I usually hug the slow lane as much as possible and only go into left lanes to pass, helping the perception that I'm going slower.
#36
Revenue Farming ... I was ticketed in my mother's PT Cruiser on the way to the post office and even the cop said he noticed the POS Honda passing me was going faster, but claimed he couldn't ticket the Honda because he was clocking me ... I said so instead of enforcing the law, you will ticket me because this car is nicer than the one speeding and more likely to pay the fine, he just smiled and said, yes.
EDIT:
I don't mind a fair pinch, when I speed it is normally at least double the posted limit ... but this was just BS.
EDIT:
I don't mind a fair pinch, when I speed it is normally at least double the posted limit ... but this was just BS.
Last edited by JABowders; 12-10-2018 at 04:43 PM.
#37
Originally Posted by JABowders
Revenue Farming ... I was ticketed in my mother's PT Cruiser on the way to the post office and even the cop said he noticed the POS Honda passing me was going faster, but claimed he couldn't ticket the Honda because he was clocking me ... I said so instead of enforcing the law, you will ticket me because this car is nicer than the one speeding and more likely to pay the fine, he just smiled and said, yes.
#38
The new Uniden R3. Tremendous range. Few false positives. Excellent unit.
Right. There are a few places in Canada where they are legal but essentially illegal in all of Canada and Nova Scotia. Can’t just turn them off. If they see one it will be confiscated And you’ll get a ticket.
Right. There are a few places in Canada where they are legal but essentially illegal in all of Canada and Nova Scotia. Can’t just turn them off. If they see one it will be confiscated And you’ll get a ticket.
#39
Revenue Farming ... I was ticketed in my mother's PT Cruiser on the way to the post office and even the cop said he noticed the POS Honda passing me was going faster, but claimed he couldn't ticket the Honda because he was clocking me ... I said so instead of enforcing the law, you will ticket me because this car is nicer than the one speeding and more likely to pay the fine, he just smiled and said, yes.
#40
#41
#42
#43
Touche! but actually not true. There are probably 100 or more Porsches in my surrounding area of Clemson & Seneca, maybe more. Quite a few 911s with most of them being 996s and 997s, with a few 991s, a bunch of Macans & Cayennes of all generations, lots of Boxsters & Caymans, and I occasionally see a 928, 944, or an older 911.
#44
Yup, me too. It shows on the camera display but doesn't get recorded in the movies. I'm usually 10-20 mph over the speed limit and if someone clearly ran a stop sign in front of me and I had the event on video, having the speed also there would blow my case.
Radar is a very wide beam so the largest object reflects it and then it's up to the officer to interpret the results he gets back, which usually means the faster car had to be the sportscar in the pack and not the Tahoe or pickup. Laser is different and they know exactly which car they shot. Also, old corvettes with their angled radiators and fiberglass bodies are notorious for not reflecting a good radar signal back to the police guns.
Radar is a very wide beam so the largest object reflects it and then it's up to the officer to interpret the results he gets back, which usually means the faster car had to be the sportscar in the pack and not the Tahoe or pickup. Laser is different and they know exactly which car they shot. Also, old corvettes with their angled radiators and fiberglass bodies are notorious for not reflecting a good radar signal back to the police guns.
#45
Fred Puhn (good friend and author of "How to Make Your Car Handle) told me that Corvette intentionally angled the radiators and (I think the firewall) to reduce radar cross-section (RCS). While car mag radar detector tests are very instructive, I'd really like them to do measure RCS's on a bunch of vehicles. It would be great to compare the RCS of various 911's, supercars and SUV's (Car & Driver, Road & Track, Motor Trend, are you listening?)
That said, like many others I'm seeing more and more laser used in my neck of the woods and more and more K family bands radar noise from automated traffic monitoring systems, lane departure, blindspot monitoring... Laser reflectivity is a different animal all together and I don't see how you could create a working comparison for that without scanning the car. An average wouldn't be useful. Perhaps net reflectivity or area with reflectivity above a certain value would be useful.
Going back to one of the original questions, I did do some research on the latest and greatest in radar and laser detectors and the Uniden R3 seems to consistently take the top marks.