Saturday, March 29, 2008

Unfair/Invalid Speeding Tickets/Traffic Citations

When is a Speeding Ticket/Traffic Citation Unfair or Invalid?

Today on the Speed Trap Hunter Forum, an interesting question was posed by a participating member, one that provoked an informative response from an STH resident speed trap "expert," Craig Peterson (Driver's Guide to Police Radar).

Craig's answer was so informative, that I believe it merits special mention.

If you ever receive a speeding ticket or traffic citation that you believe may have been issued unfairly, you would be well advised to read the following:

Where/When Exactly Does the Speed Limit Change?

Happy and safe motoring!

Veil Guy

Monday, March 24, 2008

Red Light Cameras Detectable by Laser/Radar Detectors



Last week I was on a business trip which took me to the eastern Maryland.

During the week I commuted daily from an old buddy's house located on the south-western border of Maryland.

One morning, I took a wrong turn off of Route 40 and ended-up going south on I-97 when I needed to go north. I immediately exited at the Town Center exit off of I-97 and was considering making a U-turn at an intersection controlled by red light when I observed a No U-turn sign. As I changed lanes from the left to the right in preparation to make a legal U-turn, my Beltronics Vector 995 briefly alerted to laser.

When sitting at the red light to make the left-turn back towards I-97, I noticed 6 or so boxes that were mounted on polls facing each of the four directions of travel of the intersection.

It appeared to me that this intersection was being monitored by a red light camera system, but by one that I did not recognize.

The following morning, just to be certain, I traveled back to the intersection, this time equipped with a Cheetah GPSMirror.

As anticipated, the Cheetah GPSMirror did correctly alert to the presence of the red light camera system that was in operation at this intersection.

Certain red light camera systems utilize police laser (lidar) to operate.

Given the fact that my BEL Vector 995 alerted to laser, it suggests that, conventional (ie; one that doesn't utilize GPS) radar/laser detectors can alert to the operation of certain (police laser/lidar-based) red light cameras.

This information may be good to know the next time you approach an unfamiliar intersection and your radar detector alerts to laser...

An ongoing discussion of this experience can be found, here:

Red Light Cameras Detected by Radar/Laser Detectors

Veil Guy