Weather

[foot474]

Roy,

My question concerns the use of laser and radar in bad weather conditions. I am not sure on what works and what does not work in a situation such as rain or snow. I have herd that laser does not work in the rain. If you could inlighten me on the subject I would appriciate it. Thank you.

BTW

This is a really neat message board. It very helpful in learning about what is being used and how things are done when it comes to radar/laser detectors and law enforcement.

[Radar Roy]

1st off, thank you for your comments about the board..

The weather will not have any effect on radar

Rain, snow, fog will shorten the range of laser. Several laser guns now have an "inclement weather" setting to take this in account, but the range is still reduced

[A 2000 SS in Jersey]

Speaking of weather and radar and laser.

I was searching for a answer to something that I have always been curious about and found this post. Will the amount of Radar and Laser usage by LEO decrease as a result of bad weather? If I was a police officer and it was up to me, I would wait for a nice sunny day........ Why get out in the rain to write a ticket?

Also, I would imagine bad weather keeps the LEO busy with accidents and such. And in some of the favorite hiding places in the bushes, I would think the chance for the crusier to get stuck may be an issue?

Any thoughts ...... or theories??

[brick]

Makes plenty of sense to me. I see the heaviest enforcement on nice days, lowest on lousy days. People drive closer to the limit in the rain, anyway, so there are fewer juicy tickets to write.

Here's a follow-up question: In bad weather, to LEOs lower the threshold at which they start to write tickets? (e.g. citing for 5 over instead of 10). I'm thinking that they would. I can remember one exception to the above-stated "rule" on the NY Thruway several years ago. It was snowing very heavily and I was probably doing 50 in a 65 all by myself. I was shocked to get an instant Ka blast from a trooper parked in a hiding spot on the median. NYSP is known to be very good with instant-on, and I have to wonder if he was looking to bust people for driving faster than reasonable for the conditions.