I'm not aware of one.

BTW, if I stop you for speeding and I see your radar detector, it's usually an automatic ticket. Of course, my threshold for pullling someone over is many klicks over the limit.

See? Automatic ticket. Another cop who makes his own law.

Come down off the roof Dick. Since Tman's threshold for pulling the guy over is several MPH over the POSTED speed limit and issuing is at officer discretion, I'd say his rule of thumb Speeding+Way over+Radar Detector== ticket is fine.

If you have the detector, some officers see it as intent and forethought.

"my threshold", my interpretation of "many" klicks, my "automatic ticket"

Who needs the legislature or courts when cops can decide everything?

"Intent and forthought" are NOT elements of the speeding laws. Try to argue that if you're charged....

And radar/laser detectors have been argued many time in the legislature. They are "legal". Just like your gun.

so, the leg or state law sets speed limits, right? driver doesn't get stopped until over the limit, right? Where's the law breaking?

Yeah yeah yeah... I must say that my radar detector comes in handy for more than just "speeding." It also picks up on emergency vehicles (Fire, EMS, LEO) by detecting whatever it is y'all have that triggers the stop lights. It says "Emergency vehicle approaching." I can assure you, in the city, this is a very welcome "heads-up!" Whether I can see the emergency vehicle or not, I know to be on the look out. Very handy!

BTW tman, I want to know where that super cool vending machine is!!!

FYI, I'm a self employed on-site computer and networking tech. I spend a great deal of time driving all over the place. So the information provided by these devices (without taking my eyes off the road) is invaluable to me.

Reading a map or mapquest printout vs. a GPS mounted where mine is. Which do you feel is actually safer? The GPS talks too. "Right turn in .5 miles on Main St. Ave. Rd. NW Circle Dr."

Fine, Dick, "I'm making my own law". If you prefer, I certainly can start ticketing at 56 mph in a 55 zone.

I can ticket for the actual speed, rather than the lowest bracket available. I can also write the no proof of insurance citation, if your card shows that your policy expired yesterday. Oh, and by the way, are you wearing your seatbelt?



Making up my own law? Hardly.

Using my experience and judgement in applying the statutes to each situation? Absolutely.

In the specific case of a speeder who is using a radar detector. It is obvious that he or she is employing the device primarily as a means to detect police radar emissions. If you have one and don't speed, I won't pull you over.

I believe the presence of a radar detector indicates an attitude of "I will speed as much as I can get away with it."

This would just be one time where you didn't.

(Must be the badged cowboy in me coming out)

So, is it really judgement and experience? Or is it "automatic"? Sorry to get on your case, but "automatic" is the opposite of "judgement". INHO.

Some people ar better at multi tasking and seeing around their equipment than others. Unfortunately, or fortunately, the law is written for those who aren't.

I agree that the legislature should look at the obstructed view statute. Go lobby! Like I said earlier, I don't usually stop cars with suspended objects...

I'm sure I'd have a lot of the same stuff in my car if I did your job.

Dick, I think what I originally said stands on its own.

Mine is mounted in the Lower Left windshield area just above my speedometer. I can see it at a glance, reach it if I have to hit repeat, and it's out of view unless needed. I'll bet it's still afoul of the statute.

Yup. It's a dumb law. There's a little slip of paper inside most GPS packaging that says, in so many words, "Don't use the included windshield mount in Minnesota or California, where it's illegal!"

Here's some more detail: http://www.gpsreview.net/windshield-gps ... me-states/

I think I'll get this on my reps' radars.

Well, it's better than an obstructed vision ticket in a situation where vision is not obstructed....

Nah. You're ignoring the statutes, in a lot of cases. And you're right to; it is good judgment.

The idea of speed limits is, well, to maintain public safety; when somebody's going 62, say, on the Crosstown (limit 55) at the speed of the rest of the traffic, keeping an appropriate distance from the car in front, and all, they're flagrantly violating the speed limit laws, but they're not endangering anybody. Now, if they're weaving enough that you think that they may be driving drunk, or it's late at night and your experience tells you that there's a huge chance that you can pull over a drunk by playing 'drop the needle' and choose to use their speed as the PC for pulling them over, you're not doing anything wrong, either, if you do that.

But let's take that one a step farther. It's three in the morning, and you decide to pull over a guy who is weaving, just a bit, and doing 61 in a 55. You run the plates -- no wants or warrants, and the driver's record comes back clean on anything significant; maybe a speeding ticket or two, over some years. When you go to the window, your experience leads you to believe that he's a sober guy just heading home, late at night, but he's got a radar detector, which he didn't happen to have on. (If he did, he would have slowed down when you flashed your radar at the guy a quarter mile in front of him.)

He doesn't threaten you or anything, but he's not particularly pleasant or apologetic about doing 61 on an unbusy highway, and when you ask him, "Do you know why I pulled you over?" he says something like, "No, not really."

He's got his DL and proof of insurance, although he takes awhile to dig it out of the glove compartment; it's buried among a lot of other paper.

What's it going to be? "Have a nice night, sir; drive careful" Or "Sign here?" You've a right to your belief, but it may mean, "I'm planning on traveling at safe speeds, and sometimes -- perhaps often -- that'll mean going faster than posted speed limits (you know, like 63 in a 55, not 85 through a school bus pickup zone), but since I don't really care to get pulled over a whole lot, I'd kind of like to know if there's a cop up ahead, because maybe he's not going to be one of those folks who uses good judgment and experience and ignore the statutes when appropriate, so when I start hearing that beep I'll poke along at the speed limit for awhile, and let somebody else get pulled over."

It does, by the way, mean just that when I've got my own radar detector up -- and if it's up, it's on.

Joel, you do bring up an interesting scenario, and one I'm sure occurs with regularity. In my normal job activites, 61 /55 won't get you a bat of my eye. 61 and weaving? Well, then I'm looking at the weaving, and not the speed. If I stop you and you're not DWI, a written warning for the weaving /crossing the fogline/ or crossing the centerline is what you can expect. I would probably tell you that with "instant-on" radar, your detector won't help you in the future (As you've pointed out, though, it will serve its purpose if you're not the lead car. I won't mention that).

Of course, I'm older, and I can't speak for the guys who are stopping cars for suspended objects and burned out tail lights when the rest of us are headed to an actual call for service. They have a different view, and unfortunately, it is a widely accepted one.

As an aside, my "prowler" was just outfitted with the latest video recording equipment, the "Digital Ally". It's always on and when I press record or activate my emergency lights, it captures about 30 seconds of video from BEFORE I activated it. So now I can witness a violation, turn on the recorder, and it will have captured it. Cool, huh?