my radar is hard wired and hidden up by the rear view mirror and the light is dimmed. A patrolman sitting in a cruiser behind me wouldn't see it. I've been pulled over about 10 times and gotten a warning every time, probably mostly because they can't see the radar.

What concerns me about these laser jammer things is that the Escort ZR3 specifically (didn't look at the other) attaches directly to the rear license plate. It mounts to the screw holes of the license plate. Since this would be staring an officer in the face when you get pulled over, that would concern me. You might be able to hide it if you put tape over the lense and spray painted the thing with chrome paint, then put a chrome plate frame around the plate, it wouldn't be so obvious. But an officer that knew what they were would know right away. The emitters need to be placed within 18" of the rear license plate so on our cars there's no other place to put it except directly on the rear plate.

The emitters on the front can be easily mounted in the grill below the bumper, it would blend in perfectly there. I would personally consider using the jammer in the front only because I think 90% of your risk of getting hit with laser is going to come from the front on the highway. If you see one ahead, you're going to slow down enough when you pass them anyways.

 

This site has some useful information, prices are about average for an authorized dealer, You can find them cheaper but escort is **** about there warranty and authorized dealers.
http://www.radarbusters.com/

 

I've been reading about the "Blinder M25 X-Treme", my question is does it really work. Does anyone know somebody that has one? I would hate to spend over $400 for something that works some of the time.

 

This has been adressed a few times before... let me find you cheating and I'm writing you everything I can, to include "obstructed view" for the air freshner on the mirror, because I know you've gotten away with it before... In fact I just hit a 'poor college student' in a 2006 Mini Cooper with a V1 on the dash ,I wasn't even going to stop that car untill I saw the brake lights suspiciously were connected to the hold button on my remote, as I was targeting a big truck (which I enforce a little more stingently). Her excuse... she was running late to class... she was 3 hours from a class she had to be to in 2 hours... no possible way she was going to make it. The 5 minutes I had her pulled over may have actually been an excuse for being late if she was bright enough to show the ticket to her professor.

I ALWAYS walk around front to check the front plate and examine the whole windshield as I check the registration and inspection sticker. BMW's threw me for a loop when I started seeing some contraption that detected rain on the windshield.

 

for a number of years I was driving between 35 and 40K miles a year, had a radar detector for part of the time. Most of the time I saw the cops before the detector came on, even more so with the "instant on" style. As posted by a few officers earlier, if they see one you're nailed regardless. That is why I got rid of mine. Was easer to talk out of one with a warning running barefoot then getting busted for 10 minors with one. Put youre money in mods and give them a reason to write one " yes officer it is a fast car"

 

This is where I am at. My detector sits in the garage.
Without it in the car it is easier to say,
"I'm sorry, I don't drive this car very often and I only hit the gas for a couple of seconds. As you can see by my driving record, I am not prone to speeding."

 

but you don't ever even drive your car......... has it seen rain yet?

 

Hi Trooper,

Can you elaborate on this? What is a hold button / remote and what does it imply when it's synchronized with brake lights?

I don't have a radar detector and don't know radar gun terminology.

 

All he is saying is that when he paints a car with his radar gun the car's brake lights immediately come on (ergo, a tip off that a radar detector is being used).

Might as well post a "TICKET ME NOW I'M A MORON" sign on the car.

 

I couldn't have explained it any better myself. Thanks.

This gets a "nice car and slow down" from me everytime. I may stop nice cars just to talk about the car but I very seldomly write guys with no detectors or other arrestable offenses... sorry if you don't have insurance or a valid registration or inspection... I have to write you, take your (switched) plates and tow your vehicle - This was the case with a mean sounding Camaro SS at a DWI checkpoint on New Years Eve. He wasn't drunk... but his car was not the slightest bit legal.

 

If a cop ever pulled me over just to talk about my car, his captain would be getting a nice phone call from me.

I have an issue with police who complain to be under staffed and under resourced, yet don't make efficient use of their time. I'm not anti-cop by any means, I'm just an angry taxpayer!

 

that's true but its easier for the defense attorney to get the ticket thrown out without a radar read; its always better to get them on the radar.

 

All depends on what I'm doing. If I'm cruising and I get pulled over to bs, I wouldn't mind. If I'm on my way to work, I'd be pissed.... but... I usually go to work when everyone's in the donut shop... j/k

 

Well.. if you really want a ticket for the 15 mph speed instead of talking about your car... I'd be more than happy to help you out... and I'm sure the Sgt who eventually got your call would laugh at your 'compaint' as soon as he heard it.... "Yes sir... I was stopped for 70/55 and the Trooper only wanted to talk about the mods I've done to my car and my 1/4 mile time... I feel this is a very inapropriate use of my tax money."

 

Actually Trooper, you should work on your reading comprehension. What he said was if a copy pulled him over JUST to talk about his car. Not "talked about my car after pulling me over for speeding". That is a completely different ball game.

You might want to get that log out of your own eye before you start sticking a stick in someone else's...

 

Dustin is right. It is a lot easier to avoid tickets when you are driving a delivery truck and not a Mustang most of the time.
No, it has not seen rain and my last car only saw rain twice in13 years.
I do drive it every chance I get during the summer.

 

I've been driving with radar detectors in my cars since the mid-80's. I have not received a single speeding ticket since I first started using them. They are a great tool and have saved me from at least two or three tickets every year.

Radar/laser detectors are legal in every state except Virginia and Washington DC.

Radar jammers are completely ineffective and totally illegal in every state.

Laser jammers work surprisingly well but are illegal in California, Colorado, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia, and Washington DC.

I still don't see the need for laser jammers as I have only heard maybe four laser alerts in the last couple of years and every one of those was plenty of warning.

Martin

 

I gave up on speeding. I used to be the type to set land speed records. If you are only going 15 over your not making time. Figure you have to do at least an hour at 15 over to make up 12 minutes at highway speeds. I guarantee that if you ripped straight down the highway for one hour at 15 over you'll spend 1/2 hour explaining what the hell you are doing.

The only way to do it is go twice or three times the posted limit. Then you can make good time. If anybody is going to try it, you better have a human organ on ice in a cooler!

Just slow down and take it to a track like a real man. (or lady, my Wife's vert is fast.)

 

I find this whole discussion of speeding and ticket writing for speeding sort of silly. I am what most officers who looked at my driving record would call a "chronic speeder." I typically travel about 10-15 mph over the speed limit (under ideal conditions..ie. not in rain, poor visibility, etc.). I'm not sure why this is, other than it is how I have obviously trained myself to drive comfortably and feel like I am safely reaching my destination. Slowly overtaking other cars keeps my mind actively making judgements and prevents the boredom of just "getting in line," although sometimes you have to do that too. I have been driving this way for 30 years without an accident, but what would work out to probably a yearly speeding ticket. If speed kills, then I must be the driver messing up the data, although I suspect (actually, I'm sure) that there is alot more to it than just speed. I would even argue that is some cases, it is safer to speed. I consider this extra taxation more than anything else, because I have a hard time believing that most speeding tickets written are really making us much safer as drivers. It's mostly just revenue genteration, because I think drivers are actually getting worse from a safety standpoint. You have to care that there is another human being in that other car, but I think most of us just think of them as someone in our way today. If officers started ticketing for passive aggressive behavior like ignoring the the left lane courtesy laws or obviously paying more attention to your cell phone conversation than your driving, I think it would go alot further to making us safer in our cars than ticketing someone for 10 over. But that's alot harder to measure and enforce and prove and probably wouldn't generate much money.

I sort of rambled there, but the bottom line is that most of this speeding isn't getting us anywhere any faster anyway. I doubt that most people are driving more than an hour or two to get to their destinations, and unless they are, they only gain 5-10 minutes. Leave a few minutes earlier. What would really help everyone get to their destinations faster and safer is if we all started treating driving like a cooperation and not a competition. Anyway, save yourself $400 bucks and leave a couple minutes earlier. Sorry for the rambling.

 

Several years ago, I took a drivers safety class to keep a speeding ticket off my record. I suspect that the cop that taught that class would have been MUCH happier if I HADN'T been pulled over!

The problem was that my job at the time was a process engineer for Intel. That is very much an applied statistics job. Look at data. Find something that stands out. Analyze it to verify it is significant. Fix the underlying problem. Repeat...

Anyway, he came to the section of the class where he was trying to scare us all into being better drivers using statistics. There were so many holes in his data that I almost laughed.

I really nailed him when he came to the "top causes of accidents" list. Strangely enough, speeding didn't make the top three. Or top five. At the time (according to his data), it was only number 7. And it's contribution to the total number of accidents was way below 1/7th.

This didn't add up, so I asked the class to show hands if they were in the class for speeding. 85% raised their hand. Then I asked the officer if he could explain why it was that while speeding was only the number 7 CAUSE of accidents and it caused less than 10% of all accidents (again, at that time and according to his own data) why was it that 85% of the class was in there for speeding.

His answer? "I don't know."

I asked "Could it be because it is very easy to sit on the side of the road and run a radar or laser gun and write speeding tickets?"

His answer? "Probably."

I asked "Could it also be that speeding tickets, because they are so easy to write, bring in a LOT of money to the governments?"


His answer? "Probably."

I have to add that he had a very sheepish look on his face when he answer those questions!

There were several other bits he brought up in the class that I got to tear apart completely. I can't blame him. He was only the guy teaching us this junk. He might of even believed all of it.

The thing that matters is I actually had a very good time in that class...