RADAR and other vehicles

[RichO]

I got hit by RADAR this morning and got pulled and to my surprise the cop was able to get my speed despite the delivery truck in front of him. Luckily he let me off with a warning despite my RADAR detector. I was going 13 over and he said he would probably have not pulled me over had my speed not dropped 5 MPH the instant he hit his RADAR.

See drawing:



I always thought that RADAR needed to be locked on to an isolated target with a clear shot in order to get a reading but obviously I'm wrong. The drawing is not proportional. I was a good 500 feet from him when he hit the RADAR.

Why did the large delivery truck in front of him not obstruct the RADAR and why did he not get the truck's speed instead of mine? Even if he had the RADAR antenna pointed toward my lane the truck still had to be somewhat in the path of the RADAR.

Can someone explain?

[Kayrac]

fastest mode, returns the fastest speed it receives, can barely see you, his radar manages to get around, he just pulls you over

20bucks says he had no case, and knew if you even went to court he'd get laughed out

most cops if they see you nose dive, will give you the ticket :P, and since he said once you hit the radar, he should realize you got a detector, looks like it was just a hunch on his part to see what was going on


PS, where in wisconsin you at?, i used to live in madison

[jimbonzzz]

Depending on the radar unit, he could be in a couple of different modes. There's oncomong moving mode, and same-lane moving mode. Some more advanced units can sense and display the direction of the target vehicle.

So in other words, the officer either had the radar in a mode that would not clock the truck at all and only clocked oncoming vehicles, or the radar unit told him which way the target was travelling.

[RichO]

I don't believe he was playing a hunch because he had my exact speed without asking me how fast I was going and he knew the exact speed I slowed to when I got hit with RADAR.

It's good to know about all the different modes of RADAR without finding out the hard way.

The cop said "Kind of makes your RADAR detector useless doesn't it?". In situations like that, yes, but for every one time it's been useless, it's saved me 100 times.

Thanks for your replies.

[Kayrac]

what i meant was, he couldn't see you, but his radar was showing a speed, for example if what jim said, only your direction, or if it was just fastest mode, he knew the vehicle ahead of him wasn't going faster(same speed as him), and then you pass, obviously it was you, especially if no cars behind ya.......see what i'm getting at?, if thats the case he has no ability to give you a ticket..........well he could but if you took it to court he'd have to lie under oath

but he had reason to pull you over to check you out



i'm no expert, and could be wrong, but it sounds fairly viable to me

[Lucky225]

weird, if you were going towards the cop and he had directional option I could understand, but it looks like the truck and you were going the same direction? If so, he'd obviously get the truck since it's bigger and would reflect more. Any how, cop's a d1ckhead, he hits you with instant on and says you're detector is useless, constant-on is more likely to be used, at least in my experience, and RD's can save you from instant on when a rabbit gets hit first. :X

[RichO]

but it looks like the truck and you were going the same direction?

No, the truck was going the same direction as the cop, maybe 50 feet in front of him.

I pick up constant on more often than instant on but my RD has saved me from instant on many a time. Pick up a little blip and slow down a half mile up the road you get blasted....saved. Cops who use instant on are the less lazy ones that are out to get the RD owners. I wish those cops would just sit on the side of the road with their laser (because I have a Blinder).

I generally go only 10 over if I'm on the open road with no targets ahead of me. I've never seen a cop on this road before so I've always gone about 12-15 over, but I guess I'm going to have to slow down on that road....but only that one

[CJR238]

The LEO most likely knew your speed by pacing you and using the mile markers than to make sure he I/O you then you slowed down. Cops are real good at estimating speed especially with trees and road markers.

[bunny]

fastest speed mode, or whatever it is called. it returns the fastest speed in range. it isn't to accurate on a freeway but if you're the only one and there is no one infront of behind you going faster than you then he will get an accurate speed reading.

here in cali there is to much traffic and it seems officers never get a proper speed reading. every single time i've been pulled over (except once at 2am in the morning) the officer got my speed wrong by usually 5+ to 10+ mph.

[SmaartAasSaabr]

The LEO most likely knew your speed by pacing you and using the mile markers than to make sure he I/O you then you slowed down. Cops are real good at estimating speed especially with trees and road markers.

Nah the cop was oncoming, I mean it is pretty easy to tell if someone is going 50 or 100 coming at you but to be able to say he is doing 56 you're gonna need a radar :P