Why, in a target-rich environment, would a cop have to stress out because he suddenly realizes you had a radar detector? Are you saying that in the target-rich environment, he pulled you over instead of some other mean speeder?
No, that's not what I was saying at all. I was saying that it is so
easy for a LEO (here) to find plenty of people to pull over and give citations
to because the vast majority of the traffic is speeding
at all times.
It is so ingrained in the high paced eastern US culture that most drivers are not fully cognizant of when they are speeding and when they aren't at most times. You'll be in a pack of cars running at or near the speed limit and as the group comes up on a cop car parked along side the road (often hiding just after an overpass abutment or in a cut-through path across the median) and all you see ahead is an endless stream of people hitting their brakes because they all assume they are speeding
even when they are not.
Usually, if you just stay at about the same rate (of speeding) as the majority of traffic you get the protection of not standing out from the crowd. Kind of a "bait fish" principle where they won't pray on you unless you look different by going faster than the rest. ...or by being on a motorcycle.
How do I know that this is true?
From personal experience and observation, not some internet lore. It is very, very common for me to be just riding along on a motorcycle (I almost always have my RD on) just cruising at a totally safe and sane speed, come upon a LEO, either parked roadside or coming from the opposite way, with his radar suppressed. As soon as he eyeballs me on the bike, "Beeep, beep, beep, beep, beep" I get painted. But of course since I am not speeding I don't get pulled over. This is not just a once in a while thing. It happens to me, personally, all the time.
Why? If he had already identified that I was speeding via visual means and then used the radar only to confirm his prior estimate, why does this pattern of getting painted nearly every time I go by a cop happen? Even if I am traveling in a pack of cars at the same speed, my radar detector is silent until the motorcycle is seen.
Here's what lots of people miss. Radar companies build radar devices. Then a while later, they sell their technology to Radar detector companies to detect the devices. More than once, I have had a radar that was missed by lots of detectors. I've had two really nice ones smashed on the side of the road while I issued the driver a citation. I've had lots of people complain that their detector never went off, and I've had every one of them dead to rights. No reason to go through the hassle of stopping an innocent person for speeding or any other traffic violation, as there are 20 more behind them actually breaking the law.
How is what you quoted me saying only relevant "where I live?" Part of what I mentioned is contained in the tracking history. The tracking history is taught by the RADAR builders themselves, and encouraged as the proper way to use their produce, so should be pretty universal. Of course, there will be excpetions, but mostly, it's the same stuff, maybe in a different package.
It is only relevant where you live because, #1 I trust that what you are saying is true, but #2 My personal experiences show that the LEOs around here do NOT operate their radars as you say that you are taught and required to run them. As a radar detector operator I know when they are transmitting in the area and when they are not. They do NOT wait until they have a visual speed estimate before they unblank the radar. They use the radar as the primary determinant that someone is on the road speeding and they use a visual to try and determine which of the many targets on the road are the fastest one.
The bolded line above is supporting exactly what I'm saying. Except that here, since the majority of traffic is running well above the speed limits, the majority of people are technically breaking the law. I'm not joking either. The speed limits on our widest open interstates are 65 mph. The
average drivers are going 75mph. If you are only going the speed limit, you had better be in the right most lane or risk getting rear ended.
However, running RADAR in a congested area is much more difficult than running it on a more lightly traveled road, which is why some agencies rely so heavily on LASER in the cities. Laser is precise and I can pick out one vehicle in a group. RADAR is different because it is so broad that I have to locate the car returning the signal. Sometimes, doing that with RADAR is impossible, so there's no point in wasting my time.
Exactly. There are very few "lightly traveled" highways in the East. That is what makes where you are and where I am so different. Even here in rural Cow Hampshire the few interstates we have have some substantial traffic at most times of the day.
I'm not a big stationary RADAR guy anyway. I like to be moving, and am just as likely to get you from behind in the same lane as I am while you're approaching me.
You wouldn't fit in well around here. The townies do like to patrol, but they usually just leave their K or Ka band radars running full time, so when they come around a corner and get a fix on you they already have your speed before you can see them and hit the brakes. The reason this tactic is so successful is #1 - A very large percentage of drivers here are speeding at all times, and #2 - Most of those people do not have Radar Detectors.
But the state police here like to camp out and hide along the roadside until they get a speeder. About the only time you will see them sitting out in the open is with their blues on, either at a work site or with someone receiving their next ticket alongside the road.
The last point about saying you have no idea how fast you were going...Well, good luck with that. Most agencies train guys to not ask that. It is an outdated tactic made famous by TV. Real life is not the same. Then, the last thing I need from someone is an admission of anything.
And yet, every time I have ever been pulled over in my entire life, which is (unfortunately) several times, I have always been asked: "Do you know why I pulled you over?" I've never been asked how fast I was going.
If you're getting pulled over, I know why. IF I ask someone that question, it is usually a sign that when they answer truthfully they're gonna get a break, because I'm not really in the mood to cite them, but need them to fix whatever they're doing. Finally, I have known more than officer that along with a speeding ticket, added a careless driving citation to the mix becaus if the driver going 80 in a 55 had no idea how fast they were going, they were obviously not paying attention to their vehicle or thier surroundings.
And that happens every day to ordinary, otherwise law abiding citizens around here
because the average person is knowingly breaking the speed limit. If I am getting pulled over by you, YOU may know why. That doesn't mean that I do. Maybe I have a tail light out? Maybe your radar showed a 15 over and you looked up and saw a motorcycle so that must be the one.
If I answer "Speeding, I guess." that would be a confirmation that I was indeed the one that showed the 15 over on your radar. We all have a right to not testify against ourselves.
You see, for every trick people come up with to "beat the system," the system has a way to stifle the trick. Again, it is not magic, and since we are people too, some of us tried the same tricks before we were cops. BUT...Away from the high-speed internet myths to beating a traffic stop, I will say this: IF you use a Radar detector, use it wisely. Like everything else, it is a tool. It alone will not save you, nor will it be the cause of you getting stopped. If you're that worried about it, there is an easy fix: Don't break the law. They are pretty obvious, and many of them are posted on signs along the roadways. If you're gonna use it, use your eyes and common sense too.
I agree 100% I'm not advocating using tricks to beat "the system". I don't think that not volunteering information is a trick. It's just your right not to. But. I also do not want to be surprised with an expensive performance award just because I happen to be riding a motorcycle.
As for not breaking the law, that would be a whole lot easier if they would just set the speed limits appropriately for the roads. They actually did raise the limit just this past spring by 5 mph (to 70 mph) on one of the quietest sections of I-93 from Concord up to Lincoln. The couple of times I've used it since they raised it were interesting. I found that people still drive at the same speeds they do on the 65 mph marked interstate (75-80 mph). Maybe because it is such a rarity to have a road marked higher than 65 and people have just become accustomed to running at those speeds?
Switching gears a little here; One other thing that I've noticed recently about the old radar detector that I use (old Passport 8500) is that I seem to be picking up false K band signals from newer, upscale cars. My guess is that it is related to either active cruise control or blind spot detection. Since I typically only run into these on the highway, the highways here are generally patrolled by State Police, and State Police almost universally use Ka band (or Lidar) I can usually tell that it is a false alert. But if this is happening on all other (newer) radar detectors it is going to impact the usefulness of these devices in general in a "Little Radar Detector that cried Wolf" sort of way.
