Xref: utzoo sci.electronics:9047 rec.autos:26725 Path: utzoo!attcan!telly!robohack!woods From: woods@robohack.UUCP (Greg A. Woods) Newsgroups: sci.electronics,rec.autos Subject: Re: the undetectable radar detector Summary: Legality in Canada, and radar detectors in general Keywords: radar detector Message-ID: <1989Dec15.051856.20769@robohack.UUCP> Date: 15 Dec 89 05:18:56 GMT References: <89333.113354BHB3@PSUVM.BITNET> <1840016@hpsad.HP.COM> <89339.001211BHB3@PSUVM.BITNET> <1989Dec5.125245.2627@me.toronto.edu> Reply-To: woods@robohack.UUCP (Greg A. Woods) Followup-To: rec.autos Organization: R. H. Lathwell Associates: Elegant Communications, Inc. Lines: 52 In article <1989Dec5.125245.2627@me.toronto.edu> yap@me.utoronto.ca (Davin Yap) writes: >BHB3@PSUVM.BITNET writes: >>not working at 11.5 Ghz. Of course importing detectors into Cananda is >>probably illegal, but then CMI adds to seem to hint they ship to Canada. >>If price were not an object, it would be a good product. > >Nope, not everywhere, in Alberta radar detectors are legal. I'm not too sure about this. The last time I was in Alberta (1983) they were definitely illegal, and you would be asked to back your tire onto any radar detector found on-board your vehicle. I believe that prior to 1979 or 1980 they were legal in Alberta. Definitely illegal here in Ontario. The situation in Saskatchewan is similar to that of Manitoba, if memory serves me right. (There was some discussion about this when I was home in October, but I'm not clear as to the outcome.) I've used a detector which seems to react to other detectors. The only other possible explanation for its behavior would be that every speeding truck I've met in New England is also talking on a cellular phone! Although nobody has confirmed it, the rumor is that the local highway police use this brand of detector as a detector-detector. Personally I don't like radar detectors. After a very short time you come to rely upon them, and if you forget about the tricks sometimes used, or are in un-familiar territory, you are just as likely to be caught. The best thing is to be very observant, and don't get your speed up too high. An example of a common trick used by the highway police in these parts is this: An officer stands (or sits in a vehicle) on an over-pass. When he thinks he's spotted a target, he pulls the trigger. By that time the target is past the un-marked cruiser on the side of the road, who see's the brake lights come on as the detector goes off as his partner radio's "radar contact made", or another officer down the road waits for the described vehicle and pulls it over. This works well even in heavy three lane traffic. Other tricks are parking on the up-side of a small dip in the road such that the radar signal doesn't have much range, or even parking in-line with a known "false" signal! And no, I've never been caught while using a detector, and I've not bought a ticket in over 8 years of steady driving. I have heard stories, and through careful observation saved a few friends from buying tickets. -- Greg A. Woods woods@{robohack,gate,tmsoft,ontmoh,utgpu,gpu.utcs.Toronto.EDU,utorgpu.BITNET} +1 416 443-1734 [h] +1 416 595-5425 [w] VE3-TCP Toronto, Ontario; CANADA