Got me a new fangled GPS/Radar/laser detector but,
will any old laser beam set it off?
The reason I ask is that recently, I was waiting to pull out of a side road, and directly opposite me was a building site within which a steel frame was being erected. My laser alert was blasting away.
Would one of those rotating laser levels that builders use, set it off?
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Not sure about a laser levelling system but I see no reason why not as long as its got the range.
You will find that door openers in shops will set it off as will planes coming into land using their directional finder systems.
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Blimey.
If all this stuff sets them off, I wonder what the point is in having one?
You'd spend your life braking, wouldn't you, and then find out it was another false alarm.
No doubt you'd get fed up of this and ignore it. And what would happen on the occasion that you ignored it?
Good afternoon Officer.
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The answer is to have a laser diffuser as you could ignore it unless you actually see an officer in blue pointing one at you, then you probably ought to switch it off so they can get a reading. Not sure they are entirely legal though.... Are there any materials that absorb laser light but could conceivably be used in the construction of cars?
My dad has an ordinary radar detector and the thing is always tweeting about something. It would drive me crackers so I just use the speedo and refer to the copious road side signage for guidance.
teabelly
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I own one but don't use it all the time. It works very well and you can turn of certain frequencys so as to eliminate most false alarms.
There are some websites out there that tell you the frequencys you should use so if you get a half decent detector you can turn the unwanted ones off.
Mind you both times I have been stopped for speeding I had the detector sitting in the glovebox.
DOH
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> as will planes coming into land using their directional finder systems <
As the resident pilot, I can confirm we don't have any transmitting laser "directional finder systems" on commercial planes. All the position detecting stuff is receiver based, ie GPS (satellites), ILS (ground based VHF transmitters), VOR/DME (ground based VHF transmitters), even the odd ADF (long wave radio waves).
The closest thing we have using lasers is the triple IRS (Inertial Reference System) which uses ecapsulated ring laser gyros. The only transmissions a plane makes is for communication (AM VHF or SSB HF), radar transponder and weather radar. None of which will interfere with a detector in your car.
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Off thread, but Colin M, I'm just ITK (interested to know):
What sort of car does the pilot of a 747 choose FHTD (for himself to drive) ?
And how on earth do you remember all the acronyms?
;-)
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Colin,
The laser section wont pick planes up but the Ka and Xk bands do. If you park up on my drive and wait for the Fed Ex 747 to pass over it will set off the detector.
Dont know why but it does it every time.
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My radar detector (now hostory) would permanently detect radar. I wondered if it was something under my bonnet.
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Diffusers are not legal, and the police take a dim view of them so I hear.
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Detectors were considered illegal by the police until someone took the case to court and proved otherwise, info below:
A judgement of the Queens Bench Divisional Court dated 29th January 1998 makes it clear that the use of Radar Detectors is not unlawful as has hitherto been claimed by some. In the past a few prosecutions have been brought by claiming the use of radar detectors was contrary to section 5(b)(I) of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949 as amended by section 3 of the Post Office Act 1969. However the Acts refer to the interception of wireless communications for the purpose of obtaining information as to the content, sender or addressee of any message. The Court concluded that the radar transmission was not communicating a 'message' and therefore equipment designed to detect the presence of the transmission could not decode any such message. It was further stated that section 1(1) of the Act, which requires a licence for the reception of radio signals, has been superseded by the Wireless Telegraphy Apparatus (Receivers)(Exemption) Regulations (SI 1989 No123) which exempts radar detectors and similar equipment from the need for such licences."
I believe that if diffusers were put to the same test they would be found legal also.
Of course I can not KNOW this and should not say this as I have never met all the police officers in the country and canvassed their opinions or physically been a detector/diffuser. I have only read this so its not in MY physical experience so I should not talk about it (reference to earlier arguement).
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Y'all might be confusing radar with laser.
I would have thought there was very little "laser" flying round in the environment, hence this building site related incident is the only false alarm I've had with the laser detector.
I suppose a mischievious estate agent might spend his lunchbreak parked on a motorway bridge with his laser measure.
My radar detector goes off all the time, shop doors, passing HGVs etc etc, one gets to know the intensity of the signal and hence react accordingly.
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Diffusers are not legal, and the police take a dim view of them so I hear.
Could this be because they may view them in a similar fashion to "going equiped to commit a crime"? Could it be that they believe that honest decent drivers really have no reason to use these devices?
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Detectors were considered illegal by the police until someone took the case to court and proved otherwise, info below:
A judgement of the Queens Bench Divisional Court dated 29th January 1998 makes it clear that the use of Radar Detectors is not unlawful as has hitherto been claimed by some. In the past a few prosecutions have been brought by claiming the use of radar detectors was contrary to section 5(b)(I) of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949 as amended by section 3 of the Post Office Act 1969. However the Acts refer to the interception of wireless communications for the purpose of obtaining information as to the content, sender or addressee of any message. The Court concluded that the radar transmission was not communicating a 'message' and therefore equipment designed to detect the presence of the transmission could not decode any such message. It was further stated that section 1(1) of the Act, which requires a licence for the reception of radio signals, has been superseded by the Wireless Telegraphy Apparatus (Receivers)(Exemption) Regulations (SI 1989 No123) which exempts radar detectors and similar equipment from the need for such licences."
I believe that if diffusers were put to the same test they would be found legal also.
Of course I can not KNOW this and should not say this as I have never met all the police officers in the country and canvassed their opinions or physically been a detector/diffuser. I have only read this so its not in MY physical experience so I should not talk about it (reference to earlier arguement).
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>> Diffusers are not legal, and the police take a dim view >> of them so I hear. >> Could this be because they may view them in a similar fashion to "going equiped to commit a crime"? Could it be that they believe that honest decent drivers really have no reason to use these devices?
Close eMBe. Detectors are legal because you do do nothing to interfere with radar/laser guns and they contain no information, hence no information to act on (which is the offence under the wireless telegraphy act that the police used) Difusers, benders, reflectors, jammers, anything that interferes with the signal/light is an offence because you are preventing a police officer in the course of his duties, and or perverting the course of justice.
Of course if you painted your car in a stealth paint* with light and radar absorbing or scattering properties then you could mount a robust defence on personal colour choice!
*there is a wax you can get that does some of this and cuts the range down, perfectly legal as long as you didnt intend to evade the law
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"there is a wax you can get that does some of this and cuts the range down, perfectly legal as long as you didnt intend to evade the law"
Aren't those American Car Bras supposed to have a similar effect?
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What happens if your vehicle was a source of lidar? You could be using it as a navigation aid ie some sort of automatic vehicle control system. Would it be classed as interference when you are using it for a different purpose?
I can't see how using the wax would be any different to using a diffuser. If you use a diffuser but are not intending to evade the law eg you used it but never exceeded the speed limit could they still decide you were perverting the course of justice? Even though you were not doing what they were trying to test for? Is it all down to intention?
teabelly
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The wax is an iffy one. The primary purpose of the wax is to protect the bodywork and enhance its appearance. The fact it also has intentional properties to absorb radar/diffuse light, and is advertised as such may leave you open. It wont cloak the car tho, and readings can still be taken, albeit at reduced range (been tested)
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When you detect radar you are merely detecting its presence and not doing anything with it.
If you use a laser diffuser you are interupting the beam, messing around with it - this is very different to merely detecting its presence as it is against the law to mess about with anything designed to detect you.
There are lots of different radar signals floating about the atmosphere from hundreds of sources - traffic lights, automatic doors, all manor of electrcial equipment.
Cheap radar detectors will pick up the lot and will be constantly triggering.
To eliminate this and only detect speed camera radar you need a very good detector - i.e. a very expensive one. Cheap ones are not worth having - complete waste of money.
Radar and laser are completely different. Laser is not used anywhere near as often as radar and you won't often come across it.
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...but most police speed detection is now by laser not radar. And laser detection for speed is pretty pointless. As everyone knows, radar has a lot of scatter, so you had plenty of time to slow down between detecting it and the reading being taken. Pretty much the first you know of being laser'd is when they "lock" onto your car, and as soon as that is done the reading can be taken.
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