A rant on radar!

Radar, is an acronym which stands for "Radio detection and ranging".

The most common type of radar is that of the police style handheld
"guns".

Contrary to popular belief, this style of radar gun does NOT emit a
beam that is sent in only one direction towards it's intended target.
Instead, the radio beam goes out in all directions, forward, reverse,
up and down encompassing a globe like pattern.

Do you own a radar detector? Have you not noticed that it sounds off
regardless of which way the officer is facing?

As with any radio beam, the farther away from the source, the wider
the signal is. So at 500 feet, the width is something like 100 feet
for x band, and 150 feet for k band.
http://www.dr-radar.com/hud_demo.htm

This more than covers one lane of traffic. So you are approaching
"mister smokie" who has his unit turned on and you are doing the speed
limit. Some 100 feet behind you is another car going faster. Which of
you is pulled over and cited? You are of course because you were first
in line and the officer has no clues that his gun reported the other
guy's speed, not yours. Or maybe someone across the way on the other
side was going faster.

Then there are other things radar must contend with. Such as spurious
electronic signals from other radio services such as microwave towers.
High voltage power plants can also cause false readings.
Even simple things like a chain link fence can play havoc with
readings.
Not to mention other radio signals.

And what about the physical makeup of the location itself?
If you are going down a hill and an officer is operating at the bottom
of that hill, chances are the readings will be false. Why? Because
more signal is being bounced off of that hill. Same will be true if
there is a big building nearby.

How many times have you travelled down the highway and come across an
officer sitting on the ramp that comes down from the road above?
By the time you pass him in order for his "gun" to record your alleged
speed, the beam is so wide it could be detecting the speed of that
truck going the other way. And the median is 50 feet wide!

Radar is therefor(e) a method to generate revenue.
Officers' and the courts, are relying on the fact that you will simply
pay the fine and go on. And why is it that truckers always pay heavier
fines for the same infraction? Because the courts know truckers aren't
going to contest the charge.

Instead, lidar, or vascar should be used. Then there is no question as
to what your speed actually was.

On the discovery channel tv show "Mythbusters" they tackled the "Red
light camera" challenge quite well and covered all the bases. Taking
into account that other things might falsely report the speed. Such as
birds. In fact, the camera couldn't even detect the bird. For this
demo they used a trained falcon. With the bird flying within a few
feet of the camera. Also tested, was a race car capable of 180 mph.
"No ticket".


So the next time that cop cites you for doing 100 mph in a 40mph zone
in your honda civic, take him to court.

.

Relevant Pages

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