Way_North

I'll be traveling x-country in my car during a whole month of April and thinking about getting a radar detector. I know it is illegal to have it in VA. In Ohio is not recommended to use it. What does it mean anyway? I can have it in a car but not turned on or can be activated?

Any specific brand you recommend? The best place to purchase it?

Dukey

Radar detector USE is illegal in Virginia.

If you are going to speed please go around our state.

NJrunr3

We always travel with ours. After getting pulled over in Maine and getting a ticket on the way to Key West, we vowed to never leave home without it. It's been a life saver ever since. Saved us many times in Arizona last month. The only downside is that it's very sensitive and alerts you when you pass stores, since the security thing sets it off and those automated highway signs seem to set it off as well. But it's well worth it, especially for highway driving. Check out this site for more info:

http://www.afn.org/~afn09444/scanlaws/radar4.html

RedRock

Save your money to buy gas, you will need it for the cross country road trip. Most all states have a 65++ MPH speed limit and allow you at least 5-10 over before they will stop you. Drive with the flow of traffic and you will have little problem...... We just came back from a 3+K mile road trip and most of the traffic stops we saw the officer had 3 or 4 cars stopped at the same time. So if you speed and are stopped you will have company while the ticket is being written. Happy Motoring.

MikeT

"It's been a life saver ever since."

If you are concerned about saving lives, how about following the freakin' law and don't speed. This isn't NASCAR.

Way_North

I DO NOT WANT TO SPEED. That is a point, I don't want to speed and I'll be on some roads in the mountains with a very light traffic where setting a cruise control is not possible. On lonely roads sometimes it is so easy to forget to check your speed limit often enough. I DO NOT WANT TO SPEED.
MikeT, be nice. I do not want to speed. This is what I am trying to avoid. Dukey, I live in VA part time and I think I am only one driver in VA who does not speed. There are some crazy driver on I-81. RedRock, from your generous posts I gathered you are a nice person so please continue to be nice and understanding and do not give me a line "Save your money to buy gas" since I never asked for tips on how to make this trip inexpensive. I'm planning to drive 5,000+ miles

Thank you for all your comments and keep them coming but first read carefully my post in which I never stated I want to speed during my trip hence I'm thinking about buying a radar detector.

persimmondeb

Folks, radar detectors will save you grief from the classic speed trap. Which is when the posted limit goes from 50 to 30, or 45 to 25, or something like that, very rapidly, with a single, and often not very prominently posted sign, on a road where a reasonable person would not expect the limit to be so low. The municipality in charge of this will post an officer just past the change, and have him reap tickets from the unwary. My mother, who drives like a turtle, was once caught in one, and forever after drove through that town at the posted 25 mph with a long line of cars behind her, beeping away. A radar signal in such a situation indicates that there is some reason to watch one's speed.

soccr

Need for speed?

If you're in a speed trap, you are probably also in an area when the police have radar-detector detectors, and there may also be a local ordinance prohibiting them, which will add to your killer fine if you're caught.

You don't need a radar detector (and not being able to use cruise control is kind of a silly excuse imho -- you mean you can't regulate things with just your foot and the accelerator?). You just need to be sensible, alert, and stay below 7 -8 MPH above the speed limit.

Worth doing a little on-line homework on speed traps and assume special concentration of state cops just inside a state line to catch people flying into that state from another (e.g., on I-85 in Virginia).

Either that or always be no more than the SECOND OR THIRD fastest car on the road!

MikeT

"That is a point, I don't want to speed and I'll be on some roads in the mountains with a very light traffic where setting a cruise control is not possible. On lonely roads sometimes it is so easy to forget to check your speed limit often enough."

If you can't be alert enough to be monitoring your speed with a radar detector, get off the road. I'm not buying this for a second.

Brutforce

Many of law enforcements 'point & shoot' radar guns now make convential radar detectors obsolete. Conveniently, the radar detector manufacturer also makes the radar guns for the police. I've not had a ticket in nearly 15 years (knock on wood) & have found as long as you stay w/the flow of traffic, keep right except to pass (a big pet peeve of mine) & pay attention you'll not likely have any trouble. Ohio is one big speed trap (I know, I grew up there) & many of the southern states employ unmarked or hidden vehicles. Pay attention, particularly to the truckers. You'd be better advised to buy a CB than a radar detector in my opinion, regardless of your intent. Also, if you do get pulled w/one of those on your windshield, you are guaranteed a ticket, don't even waste your breath.

Ackislander

It is illegal in Connecticut as well as in Virginia. I don't know about Ohio, but I do know that they are VERY aggressive about enforcing speed limits on interstates.

I believe that both VA and CT will confiscate radar detectors on the spot if they are observed in your car. I could be wrong. Let us know when you get back.

It is my understanding that radar detectors must be locked in the trunk while passing through VA or CT, but maybe someone local can enlighten.

On a lighter note, I read an interview with a state trooper in a New England state who said he slowed traffic on the interstate simply by turning his radar on and off. Everyone had detectors and braked immediately as did the cars following them.

Way_North

OK. I won't get one. MikeT, you are such a good boy. LOL! I really do not need your approval. Years of driving all over the world and never got one speeding tickets. I just thought it would be a good idea, a number of you convinced me otherwise. Thank you for all your contributions

Way_North

Ackislander, I heard this story too. I also read that in NC or SC state troopers placed ghost cars along highways where no officer were in them. Traffic slowed down significantly.

Loki

If you don't want to speed and can't use cruise control then save the radar detector money and buy a GPS instead. You can set a warning to sound when you exceed a certain speed. And unlike a radar detector it can help you find your way if you get lost.

Rich

. . they are very good at detecting doughnut shops . . .

dwooddon

It does not have to be a point-and-shoot radar gun to render detectors useless. Many of the fixed position radar units now installed in police cars have a standby mode in which the radar signal does not emit. The officer can keep the unit in standby until they observe a vehicle they think is speeding. They then turn the unit on and it has established the speed of the target before the driver could lift his/her foot from the acclerator.

I also tend to be a little heavy footed, especially on rural interstate highways. Out here, our speed limit is 75mph and most officers will ignore anyone under 85 mph. My strategy, like another poster mentioned, is to not be the fastest vehicle on the road when speeding. I call it "trolling for troopers" and it works pretty well.

And before anyone flames me for being unsafe, these roads were designed for 100+ mph. Before the nationwide 55 mph came into effect, we had no speed limit except in towns and cities. The standard was "reasonable and prudent for conditons" and 100+ mph was perfectly legal unless there were conditions (curves, weather, other traffic, etc.) which made it unsafe.

nytraveler

Radar detectors are illegal (even to have one in the car) in many states.

Everyplce I have been the traffic in the fast lane goes at least 10 mph or so above the limit with no problem or attention by police. (If the traffic isn;t that usually means locals know about a speed trap - so drive the speed they do.) If you anticipate going MUCH faster than that suggest you stick to speedways, not highways.

nytraveler

Sorry - I do enjoy driving fast cars fast - and in euorpe will happily do 120 plus on the Autobahn.

But most roads in the US are not built for these speeds, there is way more traffic - and drivers here are extremely unskilled/unsafe versus those in europe.

My rule here is to make sure that I'm not the fastest car on the road - but move with the faster traffic. If you want to go much faster than that - you really should not be doing it on the public highway.

Orlando_Vic

Way_North-

I believe you when you say that you don't want to speed.

It is also true that some towns and communities use speed traps simply to as a cash cow for their cities and towns. They often employ deceptive methods. One of the worst in Florida is in the town of Waldo.

Rather than speed with a radar detector, consider using the information from the Speedtrap Exchange <http://www.speedtrap.org/index.html> to help you stay within posted limits at all times.

RedRock

Way_North -- <>There are some crazy driver on I-81.<>I DO NOT WANT TO SPEED<>

Then don't be one of them, pay attention to the old speed-o and you wont speed. I stopped using any kind of detecter years ago. Too many scofflaws going 20-25, or faster, over the limit for the police to worry about me at the limit or 5 over.