Radar Jammers - not advised!
Discussion
A possible 7 year jail sentence!
Wording from the DOT.
Excessive or inappropriate speed is a factor in many road accidents. Analysis of casualty statistics in Great Britain has shown excessive speed to be a contributory factor in 28% of all collisions that result in a fatality. It is essential for the safety of all road users that the police can undertake speed enforcement to identify people who speed, in particular in covert operations.
It is for this reason that we propose to prohibit devices that prevent or interfere with this police activity. Clause 17 of the Road Safety Bill gives the Secretary of State the power to prohibit the fitting of, or the use of vehicles carrying, speed assessment equipment detection devices. It defines such devices as a device one or more of whose purposes is to interfere with or detect the operation of equipment used to assess the speed of motor vehicles.
The precise details of which devices would be prohibited will be set out in supplementary secondary legislation. This will be done following full consultation with interested people. It is not intended to prohibit Global Positioning Systems which usefully give drivers information on the location of published camera sites.
Lesley Reed
Road Safety Division
Department For Transport
2/11 Great Minster House
GTN 3533 2452
0207 -944-2452
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News
Arrest over speed trap 'jammer' - December 2004 - Northampton News
A Northamptonshire motorist has become the first person in Britain to be arrested for using an electronic jammer to confuse speed traps.
The driver was found with a laser diffuser device fitted to his BMW vehicle by Police officers after a tip off from the Northamptonshire Safety Camera Partnership after the vehicle had been through a number of speed traps and officers were unable to take a speed reading when the vehicle was clearly driving in excess of the legal speed limit.
"The partnership will not tolerate the use of such diffuser devices" Sergeant Gary Smart, Northamptonshire Police
The gadget, which is also known as the LRC 100 Laser Diffuser, works by alerting the driver to laser speed detectors and temporarily stopping it from taking a speed-reading. The car had been recorded speeding on sixteen different occasions around Northamptonshire and the Buckinghamshire area. However, a reading of how fast it was travelling could not be obtained because the jammer device interfered with the detectors. "The motorist in question has since been arrested for perverting the course of justice and has admitted the offence," said Sergeant Gary Smart from Northamptonshire Police. "The partnerships will not tolerate the use of such diffuser devices.
Speed cameras are used throughout the force area "Clearly people using devices of this sort have the inclination to drive without due regard for speed limits, and are obstructing officers in the course of their duty," he added.
In the Northamptonshire Police force area there are 39 static speed camera sites and 41 traffic signal sites.
An additional 103 mobile sites with 11 mobile units are also used to catch speeding motorists.
Sophisticated devices to stop the cameras from taking speed-readings can be bought from specialist websites.
They work by flashing a strong laser signal to the speed detector, which causes a temporary error in the equipment and prevents a speed-reading being taken. The use of such devices is extremely dangerous.
John Rowling, Safety Camera Partnership "While the legislation has been passed making it illegal to use radar diffusers, there is currently no legislation in place regarding the laser devices," said John Rowling from the Northamptonshire Safety Camera Partnership. "Although the government are looking at this important issue. "The use of such devices is extremely dangerous as it gives the motorist licence to drive at inappropriate speeds, putting the safety of other road users at risk.
"I hope this arrest acts as a clear warning to those using such devices to enable them to drive in excess of the legal speed limit," he added.
Wording from the DOT.
Excessive or inappropriate speed is a factor in many road accidents. Analysis of casualty statistics in Great Britain has shown excessive speed to be a contributory factor in 28% of all collisions that result in a fatality. It is essential for the safety of all road users that the police can undertake speed enforcement to identify people who speed, in particular in covert operations.
It is for this reason that we propose to prohibit devices that prevent or interfere with this police activity. Clause 17 of the Road Safety Bill gives the Secretary of State the power to prohibit the fitting of, or the use of vehicles carrying, speed assessment equipment detection devices. It defines such devices as a device one or more of whose purposes is to interfere with or detect the operation of equipment used to assess the speed of motor vehicles.
The precise details of which devices would be prohibited will be set out in supplementary secondary legislation. This will be done following full consultation with interested people. It is not intended to prohibit Global Positioning Systems which usefully give drivers information on the location of published camera sites.
Lesley Reed
Road Safety Division
Department For Transport
2/11 Great Minster House
GTN 3533 2452
0207 -944-2452
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
News
Arrest over speed trap 'jammer' - December 2004 - Northampton News
A Northamptonshire motorist has become the first person in Britain to be arrested for using an electronic jammer to confuse speed traps.
The driver was found with a laser diffuser device fitted to his BMW vehicle by Police officers after a tip off from the Northamptonshire Safety Camera Partnership after the vehicle had been through a number of speed traps and officers were unable to take a speed reading when the vehicle was clearly driving in excess of the legal speed limit.
"The partnership will not tolerate the use of such diffuser devices" Sergeant Gary Smart, Northamptonshire Police
The gadget, which is also known as the LRC 100 Laser Diffuser, works by alerting the driver to laser speed detectors and temporarily stopping it from taking a speed-reading. The car had been recorded speeding on sixteen different occasions around Northamptonshire and the Buckinghamshire area. However, a reading of how fast it was travelling could not be obtained because the jammer device interfered with the detectors. "The motorist in question has since been arrested for perverting the course of justice and has admitted the offence," said Sergeant Gary Smart from Northamptonshire Police. "The partnerships will not tolerate the use of such diffuser devices.
Speed cameras are used throughout the force area "Clearly people using devices of this sort have the inclination to drive without due regard for speed limits, and are obstructing officers in the course of their duty," he added.
In the Northamptonshire Police force area there are 39 static speed camera sites and 41 traffic signal sites.
An additional 103 mobile sites with 11 mobile units are also used to catch speeding motorists.
Sophisticated devices to stop the cameras from taking speed-readings can be bought from specialist websites.
They work by flashing a strong laser signal to the speed detector, which causes a temporary error in the equipment and prevents a speed-reading being taken. The use of such devices is extremely dangerous.
John Rowling, Safety Camera Partnership "While the legislation has been passed making it illegal to use radar diffusers, there is currently no legislation in place regarding the laser devices," said John Rowling from the Northamptonshire Safety Camera Partnership. "Although the government are looking at this important issue. "The use of such devices is extremely dangerous as it gives the motorist licence to drive at inappropriate speeds, putting the safety of other road users at risk.
"I hope this arrest acts as a clear warning to those using such devices to enable them to drive in excess of the legal speed limit," he added.
I know and my point being that "Perverting Justice" is an indictable offence (Crown Court only and very expensive).
Not to mention the possible 7 year jail sentence.
Just thought I'd share this with the PH collective since it's a huge risk to take and easily detectable.
the Bib have had the camera equipment software modified to photograph any vehicle that throw up an error, any error. When the video is checked at the camera units base and an error is reported, the event is logged as a warning flag on the PNC database.
When another camera van operator takes his video back to base to check over, if he discovers an error he will check on the PNC database to see if there are any warning flags on that vehicle.
If there are no flags on the PNC for that car then one is added. If the PNC has a flag on it saying they have had a problem in the past they will investigate further.
Not to mention the possible 7 year jail sentence.
Just thought I'd share this with the PH collective since it's a huge risk to take and easily detectable.
the Bib have had the camera equipment software modified to photograph any vehicle that throw up an error, any error. When the video is checked at the camera units base and an error is reported, the event is logged as a warning flag on the PNC database.
When another camera van operator takes his video back to base to check over, if he discovers an error he will check on the PNC database to see if there are any warning flags on that vehicle.
If there are no flags on the PNC for that car then one is added. If the PNC has a flag on it saying they have had a problem in the past they will investigate further.
parrot of doom said:
DOT said:
Analysis of casualty statistics in Great Britain has shown excessive speed to be a contributory factor in 28% of all collisions that result in a fatality.
I don't ferkin' believe it! The old 1/3 lie gets trotted out once again
Don't you know, speed is a contributory factor in all accidents! Just drive at 0mph and you're perfectly safe - unless a pedestrian trips over your bonnet, in which case its jailtime for you!
I hope the fella concered pleads not guilty - there is nothing yet illegal about having a laser diffuser on your car, and the 'perverting cause of justice' case is as yet, unproven.
Not entirley correct there, as there have been a number of prosecutions since the end of 2004 where these devices have been used.
As mentioned in the post, the details of the car are logged on the PNC database when the laser gun throws up an error code, if it happens a second time it's cross checked for the previous occurence and off to court!
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