Why do people think radar detector users are speeders???????

**rose1** · 01-21-2008, 01:30 PM

I have a radar detector (passport 9500i) but I don't speed, I keep up with traffic. I don't plan on deliberatly going 100 miles an hour just because I have a detector. I only have it so I wont become a backdoor tax payer. In some small towns, leo's are getting people doing just 5mph over!!!! That's rediculous. I think I have a right to know that leo's are monitoring my speed the same way they feel they have the right to measure other people's speed. It's already clear that "safety" is the least of the city's concern. It's more about revenue. That is why so many leo's are on the road today. That is why they are intentially shortening the yellow light times where cameras are installed so they can build revenue. Does anyone agree?

**Oxygen** · 01-21-2008, 01:55 PM

cops especially think that drivers who have radar detectors drive aggressively and 20+ over the PSL...

i agree with you 100% thou, people def think that you drive crazy when you have a RD..

**TSi+WRX** · 01-21-2008, 03:12 PM

It's a matter of public perception.

Will this change over time? I honestly don't know - given that speed-detection countermeasures do fulfill the purpose that they are designed for.

Regardless, I also very much disagree that detector users are outright scofflaws and dangerous drivers.

I, too, fit into the "keep up with traffic" category when I'm on the highways. This typically puts me at somewhere between 5 to 10 over the PSL, which is pretty much a gray-zone (i.e. they'll give most in this category a "free pass") for enforcement action, anyway - particularly as I do not undertake aggressive actions. Thus, in the case of open-highway scenarios, I basically utilize my countermeasures only to insure that I will not be the victim of an unfair speed trap.

Locally, on surface-streets I rarely even do 5 over, and even then, I never disobey the speed limit in active school zones or in residential neighborhoods. Here, I basically use my countermeasures only to maximize my hobby enjoyment, and I rarely even have local enforcers bother hitting me with I/O, since they can visually well-estimate my speeds to be very close to the posted limit.

If anything, as with many others here, being engaged in this hobby has only increased my overall driving awareness and safety - unlike others, I and many of our fellow hobbyists/enthusiasts know exactly how vulnerable we are to speed-enforcement, and thus typically take proactive actions to insure that we do not end up eating a ticket, even if it is just for carelessness.

**rose1** · 01-21-2008, 03:56 PM

well said TSi+WRX. As a matter of fact, I've read somewhere that most people that speed and drive aggressively (weaving in and out of traffic) don't even have radar detectors. They're mostly young 18 year olds in college trying to show off to their friends. I also read that most rd users are excellent drivers and haven't had accidents for 10+ years. Go to http://stoptheban.org/ . The people on that website are trying to fight the radar detector ban in VA.

**Event Horizon** · 01-21-2008, 04:52 PM

the only reason i have a detector and like counter speeding measures is because i want to speed aggressively on an open highway and i dont want anyone to bother me about it. I never ever speed in PSLs that are less than 45..

**hockey005** · 01-21-2008, 04:53 PM

without a v1 i would have so many tickets...and i also like pickin up the cops and seeing wat bands they use

**Palut** · 01-21-2008, 05:29 PM

People think RDs make people speed for the same reason they think that a gun will turn an average person into a psychotic killer. They don't know anything about the subject so rather than actually think or learn they just default to whatever they've been told.

**JDS** · 01-21-2008, 06:17 PM

Why do they think we're speeders?

Because we are. Not that that's unusual or anything...just about everybody is a speeder. If you're exceeding the posted limit, you're a speeder, and honestly, who doesn't?

It's pretty simple, really. They make something illegal that everybody does so that anybody is a criminal whenever they decided to enforce it.