Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bu-cs!madd
From: madd@bu-cs.BU.EDU (Jim Frost)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: radar countermeasures
Message-ID: <20693@bu-cs.BU.EDU>
Date: 17 Mar 88 04:06:45 GMT
References: <1101@silver.bacs.indiana.edu> <2203@saturn.ucsc.edu> <3606@killer.UUCP> <1988Mar7.233054.235@utzoo.uucp> <3615@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU>
Reply-To: madd@bu-it.bu.edu (Jim Frost)
Followup-To: sci.electronics
Organization: Boston University Distributed Systems Group
Lines: 23

In article <3615@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> wolfgang@mgm.mit.edu (Wolfgang Rupprecht) writes:
>I don't think that this is the typical limitation a police radar is
>operating under, though. For the most part, cops have gotten more
>clever and aren't "shining" their radars down long stretches of
>straight roads anymore. [...]
> Many of the radar traps now seem to
>illuminate the road at an oblique angle around rocks or bridges, where
>the difference in longitudinal distance for being in the radar "shade"
>to being in the full flux is only a few tens of feet. This doesn't
>give the driver much reaction time.

Worse, many will hide their cars completely and shine towards the back
of the car, or to "shotgun" you, which means snap on the gun if they
think you're speeding.  Either way, you can't detect it in any
reasonable amount of time, and in the case of shotgunning you haven't
a chance.  One thing that helps is that they're behind you when it
happens; an all-out run has a good chance of working, since you're
already doing some 60mph or more better than the cruiser.  I don't
personally condone this sort of thing, but if they're going to take
your license away anyway, what's the difference? :-)

jim frost
madd@bu-it.bu.edu