Help Repeal The Virginia Radar Detector Ban

[snosurfa7]

In all seriousness, I never understood why people needed a radar detector in the first place. You should not be driving more than 5-10mph over the speed limit to begin with in our state and you should be attentive enough to notice changes in speed.

Yes, I have received a speeding ticket once in VA and yes I deserved it. So if you are speeding suck it up and deal with the consequences and just follow basic traffic safety laws. If you really want to go driving, find a track or at least some deserted rural road somewhere - please don't press my bumper on in the right lane on the interstate just because you think you are special and can go fast. And yes, I am a driving enthusiast, but there is a time and place and in my opinion radar detectors have no place in VA.

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by snosurfa7

In all seriousness, I never understood why people needed a radar detector in the first place. You should not be driving more than 5-10mph over the speed limit to begin with in our state and you should be attentive enough to notice changes in speed.

Yes, I have received a speeding ticket once in VA and yes I deserved it. So if you are speeding suck it up and deal with the consequences and just follow basic traffic safety laws. If you really want to go driving, find a track or at least some deserted rural road somewhere - please don't press my bumper on in the right lane on the interstate just because you think you are special and can go fast. And yes, I am a driving enthusiast, but there is a time and place and in my opinion radar detectors have no place in VA.

This raises the question of why they're legal anywhere.

[Snickers62]

You people on have some really lame arguments for not repealing the Radar Detector Ban in Virginia.
Just because some of the money from traffic tickets goes to the Literary fund does not make it right the police write so many tickets.

Radar Detectors do not make people drive faster, people drive fast because they want to. The FCC says that We have the right to receive any signal broadcast, not all except Police Radar in Virginia. For those of you that do not want to own or use a Radar Detector that is your choice, I just want the right to use mine. When you get stopped and told you were Speeding when you know where not, you will change your minds.

How would you like if the state said that you were not allowed to have any kind of Radio in your car?

With the Radar Detector Ban, they are saying just that. A Radar Detector is nothing but a simple radio.

[RVA-Jsn20]

Why do you need a radar (aka police detector) anyway?

[Flamingo13]

Originally Posted by Snickers62

You people on have some really lame arguments for not repealing the Radar Detector Ban in Virginia.
Just because some of the money from traffic tickets goes to the Literary fund does not make it right the police write so many tickets.

Radar Detectors do not make people drive faster, people drive fast because they want to. The FCC says that We have the right to receive any signal broadcast, not all except Police Radar in Virginia. For those of you that do not want to own or use a Radar Detector that is your choice, I just want the right to use mine. When you get stopped and told you were Speeding when you know where not, you will change your minds.

How would you like if the state said that you were not allowed to have any kind of Radio in your car?

With the Radar Detector Ban, they are saying just that. A Radar Detector is nothing but a simple radio.

It's NOT a simple radio - a Simple Radio comes installed in your car and receives AM/FM stations. A "higher standard" simple radio also comes w/a C/D and/or Tape Player.

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by Snickers62

You people on have some really lame arguments for not repealing the Radar Detector Ban in Virginia..

Perhaps the great ones in the General Assembly have some better arguments. You might want to ask them as they make the rules.

[Beenaroundabit]

You people on have some really lame arguments for not repealing the Radar Detector Ban in Virginia.

Actually, the reasons given in this thread for why the ban should be lifted are even MORE lame. Case in point:

The ban diverts precious law enforcement resources from more important duties...

Really? Like what? There was never any radar detector-specific 'unit' or program that I knew of when I lived in VA and worked closely with VSP that served to drain resources. Radar detector tickets were like seat belt tickets: you wrote them as you saw them while conducting other duties - like traffic enforcement. Now, if you're suggesting that an agency like VSP - whose main focus is VA's roads and highways - has something "more important" that they should focus on, I'm all ears. But remember that traffic enforcement not only deters fast driving, but also dangerous driving, driving drunk, etc.

Research has even shown that radar detector owners have a lower accident rate than motorists who do not own a detector.

I'd love to see this statistic. First time I've ever heard of the idea that people who desire to drive so fast as to avoid any kind of speed enforcement were safer drivers .

You're throwing around a lot of talk about people being cited for speeding "when they know they weren't", about "abusive" speed traps, and about so much unfair speed enforcement - all with nothing to back it up. So now, the law enforcement agencies, themselves, are "abusive" simply because they strictly enforce the law and inconvenience you?

Anyone who drives in Virginia knows that speed limits are enforced far more strictly than in many other states, but enforcing something strictly, even if done to the strictest it can be, is hardly "abusive." I love coming back to the VA forum and reading all the posts from people who can't adjust to the fact that VA doesn't give them the same "cushion" to speed that other states do.

A lot of the money collected via traffic enforcement may go back to the law enforcement agencies, themselves, but that's because the state has made it that way - i.e. less tax resources are allotted for those agencies because the state saw they had other ways to supplement their budgets. If you don't like that, lobby the state to do something like raise taxes to support law enforcement so law enforcement doesn't have to depend on ticket revenue.

While a lot of tickets are written in VA, a lot of people also got to court and have their tickets cleared or reduced because the preponderance of evidence in their respective case shows that, in the judge's eyes, there were NOT speeding. That's how the law works. It is what it is. If you were cited and think you weren't speeding or think law enforcement in Virginia is unfair or "abusive," you have the right to get an attorney and take your case to court. Rather than spending your time pushing a petition which will likely do nothing (while simultaneously throwing around a lot of unsubstantiated claims about how bad/corrupt law enforcement is in VA), you might be better served spending that time in your car so you can get where you need to go without speeding and ducking traffic enforcement.

[Snickers62]

I thought that people on here would help fight this ban...I was wrong!!!

Enjoy the Radar Detector Ban!!! LMAO


This is my last posting on here...Bye

[Anders15]

Originally Posted by Snickers62

I thought that people on here would help fight this ban...I was wrong!!!

Enjoy the Radar Detector Ban!!! LMAO


This is my last posting on here...Bye

I'm on your side but of ALL the states, Virginia will be the LAST (or maybe next to Texas) to ever change any of it's laws. I don't get it either but it really does make me want to be a police officer. I bet they just sit there listening to their iPod on the interstate until they see a vehicle approaching 50 then rack up.