Radar Detector Signal Types

[jestal]

The "smart" Lexus cruise control system that adjusts the set speed in traffic to maintain pre-set distance to the cars in front of you uses a laser range finder that will always set off your laser alert. If you get a false laser alarm look for a Toyota or Lexus nearby....they are the culprit.

I actually find the false alarms from some sources to be somewhat usefull. They assure you that your detector is working and that nothing is amiss in the sensitivity department.... Pickout the false alarms on your drive route and compare response regularily. Ages ago I "discovered" that my BelTronics detector had quite working without me realizing it due to the "missing" false alarms I was used to.

As mentioned in a post earlier, the center high mounted stop lights (CHMSL) on GM Trailblazers and like vehicles are LED arrays that will definitely set off your laser detector if you pull up close behind vehicles. Good way to check that it is working.

 

[dcarver]

If you fast fjr riders would simply slow down you wouldn't have to worry about tickets.. and radar detectors, and forward/backward cameras...

Since my fjr has been in the shop with sick valve syndrome, I've been riding my 134k 1991 HD UltraClassic. I've gone screaming past 3 CHP's in the last week, well, OK, screaming = 85 mph, actually PASSED an CHP (unmarked, no top side lights, 0530) and he did NOT pull me over.. on the FJR? busted. Moral of the story.. buy a HD and don't get tickets.. Flame On!

 

[Greg E.]

A lot of times, the LEOs here will run the roads with their Ka band radar in the constant on setting and I'll hear them a long time before I ever see them. The instant on stuff is hard to defend against if you're running by yorself. The tactic I like to use it to find a 'rabbit", someone running the speed that I want to run and keeping them a 1/2 mile ahead of me. Works pretty good.

 

[MinnFJR]

Funny, they say speed kills, but after 8 tickets in three years before I turned 18, I was still alive to pay them. Oh well.

Best thing I ever did then was buy a RD. Best thing that happened to me afterward was the lifting of the 55 national tax writing sche.. 'er, speed limit. I can live with droning along at 70 unless I'm passing.

HOWEVER,

After going almost 20 freaking years without a speed violation, I spaced out a speed trap coming into a town on Hwy 169 down in St. Peter, MN (warning Will Robinson, speed trap town!) and sure enough, there was Barney awaiting to screw up my clean record. (Why are they always hammering the people who never cause crashes?) Anyway, I lucked out and made a deal with the local prosecutor to keep the thing off my record. But I can assure you a RD would have saved me from a simple mistake there, and I'll never be without one again.

To add to the good information presented by others here, VASCAR is simply a time and distance measuring interface--in any way that it can be done. Stopwatches in airplanes, pacing, whatever. An acquaintance of mine simply throws out a couple orange cones, drives between them to get the distance, enters that in the computer, and then sits on a nearby overpass to measure the speeds of vehicles as they pass the cones. There is no defense against VASCAR other than to be aware of it. I always slow down for anything painted on the roadway that doesn't seem to have a purpose, or anything that looks even remotely suspicious. Good luck with your machine.