Radar Detectors

[BC007]

What's the legal position with regard to radar detectors? I read something recently which said they were now illegal.

Anyone know how the law currently stands?

Thanks,

Brendan

[Simon350S]

As far as I was aware they are not illegal to use... its just illegal to act on them.. i.e. slow down or warn others etc....

Dont take my word for it though!!!!

Simon

[Lotus-Ltd]

I believe they are still legal in the U. S. to my knowledge. I sure hope so. I have a Valentine one, and it works well.

Ed

[jimmybondi]

Germany:

Still legal to offer or buy radar detectors

But use of it is prohibited...

[actwon]

I believe they are still legal in the U. S. to my knowledge. I sure hope so. I have a Valentine one, and it works well.

Ed

They are legal in every state in the USA, except for Virginia and Washington, D.C.

[martynv]

What's the legal position with regard to radar detectors? I read something recently which said they were now illegal.

Anyone know how the law currently stands?

Thanks,

Brendan

It looks like its still Ok to use them in England at the moment. The last confirmation of this I found was dated November 2006. The Road Safety Bill which has been doing the rounds for a while if and when passed will make them ilegal and only GPS Camera Detectors will then remain legal.

The general advice seems to be only buy a GPS detector with removable Radar and Laser detectors, then you only need to unplug them to make your system GPS only and legal if the Bill goes though assuming it hasn't already of course.

At the end of the day if you've got a good GPS system the Radar detectors will become fairly pointless anyway as most mobile traps are laser trigered and by all accounts laser detectors generaly only give you confirmation you've been caught !!. There are still some mobile Radar units about though so be careful. The new cameras seem mostly to use sensors in the road so you wouldn't detect them either.

Martyn B)

[cly_mitchell]

I believe they are still legal in the U. S. to my knowledge. I sure hope so. I have a Valentine one, and it works well.

Ed

Is the Valentine really effective? I have had different brands and not very good results. I have a jammer, it is frowned upon by the law. It also gives me no warning just screws with thier signal. Where I live a visual reference is all they need to ticket you, not any mechanical assistance. It would be nice to detect them. what about pop?

[andydclements]

Where I live a visual reference is all they need to ticket you, not any mechanical assistance.

AFIK in the UK you can be prosecuted based on evidence of two or more experienced police officers testimony that you were travelling in excess of the speed limit.

BUT

2 police officers?

Single manning (what's a non gender specific of that??) means we're not likely to be in the situation of that prosecution.

Andy

p.s on the way to work the Porsche 4x4 thing doing 50ish catching me up in the 20mph limit on bad roads etc got really delayed- I must have mis-read my speedo once she/ he caught up, either that or I deliberately drove at 15mph.

[neal]

It looks like its still Ok to use them in England at the moment. The last confirmation of this I found was dated November 2006. The Road Safety Bill which has been doing the rounds for a while if and when passed will make them ilegal and only GPS Camera Detectors will then remain legal.

The general advice seems to be only buy a GPS detector with removable Radar and Laser detectors, then you only need to unplug them to make your system GPS only and legal if the Bill goes though assuming it hasn't already of course.

At the end of the day if you've got a good GPS system the Radar detectors will become fairly pointless anyway as most mobile traps are laser trigered and by all accounts laser detectors generaly only give you confirmation you've been caught !!. There are still some mobile Radar units about though so be careful. The new cameras seem mostly to use sensors in the road so you wouldn't detect them either.

Martyn B)

Yeah, that's my understanding. Currently:

1. Laser jammers are illegal (perverting the course of justice)

2. Laser detectors are legal but useless (you're already been caught by the time the alert you)

3. Radar detectors are legal but a pain in the ass since they go over when the neighbours dog farts.

4. GPS units are legal.

However, the government plans to make 2 and 3 illegal, but not 4.