Speeding fines and radar detectors (rental car, rental, how much)

[Tish Thompson]

From what I understand, the only people who have to worry about the felony conviction and hefty fines for speeding are those who actually live in VA and have at least 8 points. This is supposedly being done to help fund road projects in the state. There is an online petition against this new law and it has over 75K signatures. I'm not sure where to find it. I saw a story on fox5 news this morning, I suppose there may be a link on their site that has more details and the link for the petition.

[tinalynn]

what is the fine for having a radar detector in va

[VRE332]

Originally Posted by tinalynn

what is the fine for having a radar detector in va

I can say from experience that the fine initially starts out by having you drive over your own radar detector.

[tijlover]

There should be a website for travelers who are unfamiliar with various states as to their moving violation fines. I'm all to familiar with Arizona (as the saying goes: Vacation in Arizona, leave on probation) as I lived there with their photo radar which propelled me to leave there for Las Vegas. So now I'll put Virginia on my never-go lists as well.

I'm keenly aware that this is a revenue-producer for any city, state, county, in lieu of increasing taxes, and you can't tell me any differently.

Why vacation somewhere to escape the stress of your job for a week, and face as much stress where you're traveling to, worrying constantly if you're going to get a speeding ticket or not turning your clickers on at the right moment, or whatever?

I've been here 13 years and am still ticket free and I drive like the rest of the Las Vegans here, if it says 45, you do 60; it says 65, you do 80.

My heart goes out to all you drivers in Virginia. With so much stress today, you don't need all that additional stress.

[eyeball]

Originally Posted by VRE332

I can say from experience that the fine initially starts out by having you drive over your own radar detector.

If it's not technically illegal for you to own one, only to operate it, then that sounds like a very questionable thing for a trooper to require you to do, in a legal sense. Intimidation and forced destruction of personal property?

I have a Bell something or other, but I don't use it in VA or DC. It has saved me many times the initial cost of it in tickets in other states though. That said, you have to have experience in how to effectively use a radar/laser detector in order to avoid tickets. And as alluded to in a previous post, if you get a laser alert, it's pretty much alerting you that you're about to be pulled over (as mentioned, that tech is expensive - I've driven all over the US, but I've only gotten a laser alert in MD and NJ - got a warning in MD, and the guy behind me was pulled over in NJ).

On a tangent, that whole thing about reckless driving kind of bugs me. Back when I was a younger lad, driving 80+ in my 1980 Jetta was really driving on the edge. But if you've moved up to a German-built sedan that is engineered to safely zip down the autobahn at 150mph and above, and going 65mph feels like you might as well be crawling, how is going 80mph on a relatively traffic-free interstate reckless? Especially when troopers routinely pass you going 80+ in their Chevy POS?

[Bigfoot424]

Originally Posted by tijlover

There should be a website for travelers who are unfamiliar with various states as to their moving violation fines. I'm all to familiar with Arizona (as the saying goes: Vacation in Arizona, leave on probation) as I lived there with their photo radar which propelled me to leave there for Las Vegas. So now I'll put Virginia on my never-go lists as well.

I'm keenly aware that this is a revenue-producer for any city, state, county, in lieu of increasing taxes, and you can't tell me any differently.

Why vacation somewhere to escape the stress of your job for a week, and face as much stress where you're traveling to, worrying constantly if you're going to get a speeding ticket or not turning your clickers on at the right moment, or whatever?

I've been here 13 years and am still ticket free and I drive like the rest of the Las Vegans here, if it says 45, you do 60; it says 65, you do 80.

My heart goes out to all you drivers in Virginia. With so much stress today, you don't need all that additional stress.

What the hell are you talking about? I've been driving in Va since 1975 and I'm under no stress due to not being able to use a radar detector. The stress is caused by increased traffic and stupid drivers that think speeding is a God given right.

[Bigfoot424]

Originally Posted by eyeball

If it's not technically illegal for you to own one, only to operate it, then that sounds like a very questionable thing for a trooper to require you to do, in a legal sense. Intimidation and forced destruction of personal property?

I have a Bell something or other, but I don't use it in VA or DC. It has saved me many times the initial cost of it in tickets in other states though. That said, you have to have experience in how to effectively use a radar/laser detector in order to avoid tickets. And as alluded to in a previous post, if you get a laser alert, it's pretty much alerting you that you're about to be pulled over (as mentioned, that tech is expensive - I've driven all over the US, but I've only gotten a laser alert in MD and NJ - got a warning in MD, and the guy behind me was pulled over in NJ).

On a tangent, that whole thing about reckless driving kind of bugs me. Back when I was a younger lad, driving 80+ in my 1980 Jetta was really driving on the edge. But if you've moved up to a German-built sedan that is engineered to safely zip down the autobahn at 150mph and above, and going 65mph feels like you might as well be crawling, how is going 80mph on a relatively traffic-free interstate reckless? Especially when troopers routinely pass you going 80+ in their Chevy POS?

Quit being so gullible. The detector is no longer taken for evidence like it was back in the days. It can be taken now only if needed to prove it's a detector in court then it's returned to the owner. No officer will make someone run over it.

[oneasterisk]

Originally Posted by Bigfoot424

What the hell are you talking about? I've been driving in Va since 1975 and I'm under no stress due to not being able to use a radar detector. The stress is caused by increased traffic and stupid drivers that think speeding is a God given right.

I agree. If tijlover doesn't want to come here, then I'm glad there will be one less person to fill up the roads.

[Legs1357]

Plus I think it's wise when one's in an extremely unfamiliar city area not to be going a zillion miles over the speed limit anyways (and this is from the person that regularly ignores posted speed limits). I drove around in NoVa/DC rush hour while I was here a couple weekends ago and it wasn't anything insanely stressful...no worse than Atlanta.

Originally Posted by oneasterisk

I agree. If tijlover doesn't want to come here, then I'm glad there will be one less person to fill up the roads.

[eyeball]

Originally Posted by Bigfoot424

Quit being so gullible.

You would perhaps have a point about gullibility if I had not personally known cops who were a-holes and bullies, and whom I would not put something like this past.