Use your radar detectors wisely: Spectre-2 is out

If a cop detects your device, does that give him the right to search your car? If he stops you, and you stash it in the glove box and deny you have it, and refuse to let him search, does he have probable cause to search?

I know people that have been stopped by cops that know they have a detector because they braked hard as soon as the cop lit him up from a hidden spot. This has made several cops very angry and started arguments, but never were they willing to search the vehicle without permission. THis is in canada though, but they're illegal in most places here too and our laws are very similar to the US.

The solution: keep your hidden system installed and turned on, but also keep an old "sacrificial detector" on your dash, ready for the cops to confiscate.. When you see the cops, take the dash detector down and put it on the seat, and at the same time, turn off the built-in system. =20

An even more effective method is distraction. A half-dozen plastic bags full powdered sugar on the back seat will make the cops instantly forget about your radar detector :-)

To reply, please remove one letter from each side of "@" Spammers are VERMIN. Please kill them all.

And so it panned out that the following script was sculpted by none other than Doug Warner:

Bad idea, because you've then just implicated yourself in the illegal act. And remember, the cop doesn't hafta try to find your real detector; if he knows you're trying to pull a fast one he'll just accept your "sacrificial lamb" as evidence of guilt and issue a ticket for the maximum possible fine, which is very high.

And so it panned out that the following script was sculpted by none other than paint8oy:

YES. But he can't search YOU personally. So you know where to hide that RD, but ya didn't hear it from me... ;}

They can search your car if they wish, but they can't search YOU just because they think you've been using a RD.

Thankfully not on this side of the country...

Not in this particular field they're not.

And so it panned out that the following script was sculpted by none other than Some Guy:

Unfortunately this is true. But other manufacturers haven't really been better afaics. However, there is a cure that guarantees you won't get caught, and it's completely legal:

Don't drive in Ontario at all! (...or any other Province where they strictly enforce the no-RD rule.)

I wouldn't want to give that s**thole of a Province a nickel of gas tax revenue from my pockets anyway. Oh, and stay out of that T place too if you can help it, it sucks there. :}

Uniden "Bear Tracker." Don't know if they're still available. Owner claimed 1-2 mile range.

There was also a detector someone was making that could detect doughnuts and maple bars that might work in a pinch.

B~

Jeezo - i didn't know about this. You mean the cops have gadgets to detect if you have a radar detector?? That's crazy. The solution is to stiffen the penalties for having an RD. If the penalty for having an RD in your car was loss of DL for say 2 years, then nobody would use one.

And so it panned out that the following script was sculpted by none other than aunt millie:

They've had them since 1988 or so, though the technology itself dates back to WWII, when Allied aircraft/vessels were fitted with RDDs to detect the RDs that the German U boats were using to detect Allied RaDARs! Plus ça change...

The original police RDD was the Technosonic VG2 aka Interceptor, which went into commission in the late 1980s. However, within a few years, several RD makers had started producing quality units that were immune to VG2 detection. Then, more recently, along came the Aussie-made Stalcar aka Spectre aka VG3, against which very few, if any, North American market RDs have immunity. The only fix thus far is not to drive in scummy places like Ontario that make intensive use of Spectre. Places like that don't deserve gas tax dollars anyway. And in the case of Ontario, the largest city there, beginning with T, is a place to avoid at all costs anyway (unless one has no choice in the matter and can't weasel out)...

For all I know, the present day $1000 max fine and confiscation of the detector is quite a strong disincentive, although nothing short of the death penalty is likely to be an effective deterrent. Personally, I "get around" the problem by basically not driving in places where RDs are banned in the first place - that ensures that these hypocritical money grabbing jurisdictions don't get a cent of what I pay in gas taxes.

Toronto loves you, ER. Even if you don't love us.

How could anyone hate the City of Restaurants? Home of the Leafs. Keeper of the big, nasty Banks. Site of the biggest Chinatown outside of SF. We've even got a real mayor now! Kensington Market! High Park! Molson Indy! Carribanna! The Rheostatics! The Rolling Stones' favourite North American city.

Hmm, perhaps I should have not mentioned the Stones. In any event, it turns out that ER is hardly unique. Toronto ranks a close 2nd to the Province of Quebec as the piece of Canadian geography least liked by Canadians, whether they have visited there or not. When the Parti Quebecios is not in power in La Belle Provence, Toronto moves to 1st place.

Go Leafs Go. - Vin (who lives and works in downtown Toronto and likes it very much even though he's from Manitoba)

And so it panned out that the following script was sculpted by none other than Vin Thompson:

Well, thanks, but it sure doesn't feel that way. I think I'll take London GB over it any day (if it weren't in the Soviet EUnion that is, and the cost of living in London among other things really shakes me up bigtime whenever I'm there), or even New York, if I'd ever been there and could move freely to the U.S., which of course I cannot. Otoh, I don't really have a "thing" for superduper ultra huge cities, even though I happen to live within the bounds of one.

I have to admit, inexpensive Chinese restaurants are one of the few true plusses of downtown T, an oasis in an otherwise extremely overpriced desert.

Uhh, okay. We're the home of the Canucks. That about even things out, eh? :}

Yeah, Bay St.'s hardly a plus, unless you work there twelve hours a day for big bucks.

I'll take the real one in S.F. thanks very much.

Ahh yes, won't knock that too much. :}

Goodness knows why, but each unto their own.

Yeah... don't get me wrong or anything, I don't really hate T half as much as I like to make out (it's only partly dislike, partly poking a bit of gentle fun), but it's not a place I'll likely be going to again without a DAMN good reason, e.g. as a transit point en route to, say, Ottawa or Niagara Falls. (...or maybe if someone forces me to go there at gunpoint ;)

But in a Province where driving is basically a must, the way they treat motorists is utterly disgusting (in$urance racket, RD ban etc.). And it's *Provincial* policies that go a long way toward ruining T as a decent place to live. This is often cited by media critics as a universal Canajun problem: power hungry, greedy, overcentralized Provincial authorities that staidly refuse to relinquish areas of political control to power starved municipalities. If Ontario became more motorist friendly and/or built a modern, western [European] style transit infrastructure, it would have a much better quality of life imho. Actually the same is true for B.C. to a large degree, and probably the rest of the country as well. Anyone got the $500 billion or more such an upgrade might call for? :}

Geeze, you moved *thither* from "Friendly Manitoba", as it's self proclaimed? I guess money does corrupt after all. ;} (Though I think I'll pass on the Manitoba winters, thanks a lot.)

In much of the USA a police officer may require a driver or other occupant of a car to step out of the car and submit to a frisk. The excuse is that the police officer is protecting himself by searching for weapons.

Hmmm.. do I see a new feature for cell phones? Why not build radar detection into those too. Good luck finding the detector!

In Ontario, the fine for being caught with a radar detector is currently $170 (CDN) and confiscation of the detector - and no on-the-spot investigation (at least not in your presence) if the object in question actually works or indeed functions as a radar detector.

The instant the cop signals you to pull over, they watch you (and passengers) very carefully for signs of moving, hiding, or stashing items in the car. When they approach your open window, the first words out of their mouth will be "please hand over the radar detector you just hid in your purse / placed in your jacket / placed under your seat / placed in the glove compartment".

I have no direct or second-hand knowledge as to how they proceed (in Canada or anywhere else) if you claim you don't have one. Most Americans believe that in the US (ie Virgina and DC) that the cops do not have the right to search your person for a detector. One wonders if they would resort to threatening to "tear your car apart" unless you volunteer to produce the detector.

In most (or all?) Canadian provinces east of (and including Ontario) the use of a detector in any vehicle (car, truck, semi, etc) is "illegal". It is similarly "illegal" in the US state of Virginia and the District of Columbia. In all of the US, it is similarly "illegal" to use a radar detector in a commercial vehicle (ie greyhound bus,

If you use a radar detector while operating a commercial vehicle anywhere in the US and Canada, or a private vehicle in Virgina, DC, Ontario, Quebec (and the maritime provinces) then be aware that Spectre-2 is fully capable of detecting your detector regardless of whether it's a cheap $50 detector or $400 Valentine 1. In this situation, if you are looking for a new radar detector, your best choice is the Cobra 9870. It retails for less than $200 and at least is capable of detecting Spectre-1. Like the Valentine-1, it is still vulnerable to Spectre-2, but it's less than half the price of the V-1.

If you do not drive a commercial vehicle, or if you do not drive at all in Ontario, Quebec, Virgina and DC, then this thread is of no interest or consequence to you. (But many New-yorkers and Michiganders DO drive through Ontario between Detroit, Buffalo and points further east, and the OPP are looking specifically to take your radar detectors away from you when you're on the 401).

I bet not one person has ever paid that $1000 fine. The best penalty is to take away the DL of these criminals and if they still drive, throw them in prison. Why are you such a criminal coddler?

And so it panned out that the following script was sculpted by none other than Some Guy:

But this is the "standard" fine, right, and not the maximum? If the officer wishes, the tix can be as high as $1000 iirc, though don't quote me on that 'cause I could of course be wrong.

I always understood that the law on this entitles the police to search your vehicle if they suspect you of illegally operating a RD (e.g. because their Spectre goes ballistic or because you nail the brakes when they trigger the ordinary RaDAR), but they cannot search your *person* unless you explicitly consent to it. I can see a potential loophole here for those with the cojones to risk the crime of "contempt of cop".

Presumably they proceed to search your vehicle, and if they find the offending device, they'll confiscate it and issue a tix for the maximum fine allowed by law... (which is about $1k as I recall)

Right, I have no intention of driving in ON or QC, partly because they ban RDs. Of course that makes most trips there a non starter because this country has such non-existent public transit! Oh well, shame on the government(s). They surely must realize that the lack of trains etc. is not doing the economy any favours, and in a relatively densely populated region like southern Ontario there is no excuse for the pitiful rail provision. And all that's before we even get started on the appalling way in which they treat motorists! (...for which read just about everyone)

It is my understanding that in Ontario the fine for being caught using a radar detector is fixed at $170 and there is no sliding-scale or range for this fine, and that this amount ($170) has been the fine for the better part of the past 10 years.

If anyone knows for-sure that there is indeed a "maximum" fine in Ontario in excess of $170 then please post that information.

And so it panned out that the following script was sculpted by none other than Some Guy:

This might well be true; I could be confusing it with another Province (or even Australia).

There is a much easier solution here in Texas. Keep your damn vehicle below about 75 mph.

SOB's that run 90 + mph on the freeways, swoop across 8 lanes of traffic ought to be put UNDER the jail.

And so it panned out that the following script was sculpted by none other than Larry Smith:

Though this is an obvious troll, on the "swoop across 8 lanes of traffic part", I kind of agree. Same for those who cruise in the left or centre lanes when not passing, let's do away with them too.