“I was pulled over on California State Route 33 in the Central Valley by a traffic officer using radar,” a Hanford reader’s email began.

“While the posted speed limit there was 65, try to drive at that speed and you generally create a danger to other vehicles, often doing over 80.

“I was keeping up with the extremely light traffic which was going far above the posted speed limit and maintained a safe distance from other vehicles. The officer was polite, but no amount of reasoning had any effect on him. I asked if he would have preferred me to do 65 and cause an accident, and he replied by saying something I would never have expected him to admit.

“He said that for the last two years, there has been tremendous pressure on traffic enforcement officers – especially in small towns – to issue tickets even where they would have done nothing before, and that there is greater use of radar than in the past, because it is difficult to fight these kinds of tickets.

“Also, he very openly admitted that a lot of officers feel they are being used just to generate fines even where drivers aren’t being unsafe. He said he was taken aside and criticized for not issuing enough tickets. He actually recommended that I get a radar detector. It was an amazing conversation, and I actually felt sort of sorry for the guy.

“Was he telling the truth about pressure to write more tickets? Are radar detectors legal? Do they really work?”

“We are a money machine”

In researching answers to our reader’s question, we spoke with city police and Highway Patrol officers – in California and elsewhere – who have been friends of this column, under the strict condition of keeping their identity anonymous.

There is indeed “real pressure being placed on law enforcement to issue more citations,” we were told repeatedly. “This is especially true with the Highway Patrol and cities facing significant budget shortfalls,” we heard again and again.

“It is not unusual for some traffic officers to earn $100,000 or more a year, when salary and other benefits are totaled, and we are worth every cent of what we earn,” CHP Officer X told us. “But so much has changed, and the message from management is to forget about giving drivers a break, just issue citations. Of course, no one will officially admit this, but statistics tell the story,” he explained.

In fact, data released by the CHP showed that in 2009, 200,000 more tickets were issued than two years earlier. “The official word is safety,” stated our CHP source, “But any officer will privately tell you that is nonsense. We have always been concerned about traffic safety, and there is only one thing which explains this huge increase in tickets, and it is spelled M-O-N-E-Y.”

“Traffic officers – especially those who work on major freeways – are money machines, and some can easily generate several times their yearly income by writing tickets. While quotas are illegal, experience shows how many tickets should be written by observant officers during any given shift. Before, we were given latitude, and now that is becoming greatly limited. Where a driver was polite, and not going insanely fast, you could give a warning. Now, some commanders want us to cite anyone going as little as 5 miles over the speed limit. Most of us do not like this at all.”

Protect yourself

Nationwide, there has been an expanded use of radar and other forms of electronic speed measurement. While it is possible to successfully challenge a radar ticket in court, “your best defense is to not get one in the first place,” Officer Y, from a Central Valley small town, told us. He also recommends using a radar detector.

“Radar detectors are legal in California and most states for passenger vehicles. Speed studies demonstrate that on major highways, just about everyone driving a car will exceed the speed limit by 5 to 10 miles an hour or more. Today’s cars are safer than ever before. There is nothing unsafe about doing 75 or 80 in a 65 zone when everyone is going the same speed. But you won’t see that officer who has lit your car up with radar until it is too late. With a radar detector, you will generally have plenty of time to slow down.

“As tickets are being written at lower and lower speeds over the limit, with a detector you reduce the chances of getting a truly undeserved and unnecessary ticket,” he maintains.

But some high-tech features on new cars have already turned excellent radar detectors into pieces of useless junk. Next time: We’ll tell you what both auto makers and some radar detector manufacturers don’t want you to know.

Dennis Beaver practices law in Bakersfield and enjoys hearing from his readers. Contact Dennis Beaver.

The post Should I buy a radar detector? appeared first on Dennis Beaver.

Over the past two years, according to the California Highway Patrol, more of its 7,000 officers have been placed on overlapping, 12-hour shifts than ever before. According to one Highway Patrol officer interviewed for this article with our agreement to keep his identity hidden:

“Traffic enforcement officers, especially in California, have been instructed to give fewer breaks to motorists and to zero in on expensive registration, cell phone and fix-it violations and radar-based speeding citations which generate enormous amounts of money for states and cash-strapped cities.

“There are more officers on patrol than in the past, using radar for things which rarely even got a second look, such as going 5 or 10 miles an hour over the limit. Even quiet residential neighborhoods now seem to have a much higher police presence, radar guns in hand. The reason isn’t safety.

“If you want better hours or time off, write more tickets. This isn’t the case everywhere, but if you work for some cities and the State of California, you have become part of a giant vacuum cleaner, sucking money from people’s pockets. Most of the men and women who wear the uniforms of law enforcement do not like this one bit.”

“Get a radar detector and use it, in town and on the highway. This can provide enough of a warning when you are far from the traffic officer, allowing time to slow down and avoid getting a ticket,” he recommends.

Yet, while radar detectors are legal in California and most states, for some owners they have become expensive pieces of electronic junk. While generally valuable, there are now reasons to think twice about buying one, depending upon what features your present or next car will have.

The reason: Smart cars with radar-based safety features now sold in many newer cars and likely becoming required equipment in a few years.

It drives itself and drives the radar detector nuts

Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) is a new term to most drivers. At one time only available as an expensive ($3,000) option in high end BMW, Mercedes, Lexus, Audi and some other makes, ACC virtually drives the car for you. It maintains your speed, and if a car moves into your lane, it slows you down to the speed of that vehicle, stopping your car if necessary, and when safe, resuming the speed you have selected.

Once set, you don’t touch the gas or brake pedals. ACC’s radar scans about 1,000 feet ahead. This is especially useful in fog, detecting vehicles hidden to the driver. Think California’s Grapevine, descending into San Joaquin Valley fog.

This feature – often sold with blind spot avoidance – are now available for under $1,000 on cars such as the Ford Taurus, Dodge Charger, Toyota Sienna and others.

But there is a problem with these devices. They can make your radar detector totally useless. Pete Kaufman, director of communications at Valentine One, gave us this analysis:

“Your radar detector is looking for police radar on specific bands. It is simple for the automaker to locate their frequencies far away and not interfere, but most do not care and many have placed theirs in the middle of the K-Band, the worst possible place.

“The result is that your radar detector will think it is seeing police radar, and you get false alerts. Then, when real police radar is present, you might not know it. Some detectors can be adjusted, but if your car is sending out radar squarely within a police band, it can be like having no radar detector at all,” Kaufman stated.

Auto manufacturers could easily solve the problem

“This is an auto manufacturer issue and they are well aware of this problem, which is very upsetting to their own customers. They do not need to transmit on K-Band and could easily use 13.45 Gigahertz, eliminating all problems,” Carl Fors, president of Speed Measurement Laboratories of Fort Worth, Texas, told us. He is recognized as the leading expert in both police radar and radar detection in North America.

“The other problem is that even if the manufacturer located its radar frequency on a safe spot on the band, over time, we know that frequency drift will occur. Auto systems are not checked for frequency stability when the car is in for service. Police radar must be recertified every three years, but this has not been applied to vehicle use of radar. In my opinion, carmakers are violating federal law,” he maintains.

Despite repeated emails and phone calls to BMW, Mercedes and other auto makers asking for their position, none of them replied. However, BMW has stated that ACC drifting off frequency is not covered by warranty.

With the exception of Peter Kaufman at Valentine One, not a single radar detector manufacturer would speak with us.

Dennis Beaver practices law in Bakersfield and enjoys hearing from his readers. Contact Dennis Beaver.

The post What auto and radar detector manufacturers don’t want you to know appeared first on Dennis Beaver.