Laser camera detectors
Discussion
Don't know if this has been done before, iv tried to find some threads but can't so here goes! Iv been to a few meets and noticed on a good deal of cars what appear to be lazer detectors they're definitely not sat navs. So can anyone recommend any!& what is the legal standpoint on using them?
Firstly it's laser and not lazer (it's an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation).
From there a laser dectector is useless. Laser speed traps are generally not operating continuously but require an operator to think that you are speeding and "press the trigger". The laser signal that the detector detects is only present once the trigger is pressed so by the time that the "lazer" detector detects it it is too late - you've been caught if you were speeding.
GPS detectors which tell you where there are fixed camera sites and known "black spots" are a different matter and are completely legal.
From there a laser dectector is useless. Laser speed traps are generally not operating continuously but require an operator to think that you are speeding and "press the trigger". The laser signal that the detector detects is only present once the trigger is pressed so by the time that the "lazer" detector detects it it is too late - you've been caught if you were speeding.
GPS detectors which tell you where there are fixed camera sites and known "black spots" are a different matter and are completely legal.
douglasb said:
Firstly it's laser and not lazer (it's an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation).
From there a laser dectector is useless. Laser speed traps are generally not operating continuously but require an operator to think that you are speeding and "press the trigger". The laser signal that the detector detects is only present once the trigger is pressed so by the time that the "lazer" detector detects it it is too late - you've been caught if you were speeding.
GPS detectors which tell you where there are fixed camera sites and known "black spots" are a different matter and are completely legal.
Thats what I thought but apparently some more sensitive ones can detectFrom there a laser dectector is useless. Laser speed traps are generally not operating continuously but require an operator to think that you are speeding and "press the trigger". The laser signal that the detector detects is only present once the trigger is pressed so by the time that the "lazer" detector detects it it is too late - you've been caught if you were speeding.
GPS detectors which tell you where there are fixed camera sites and known "black spots" are a different matter and are completely legal.
i used one for a bit, sometimes you get lucky and they pick up a bit of stray light from a car infront getting checked but on the most part if they go off you are already done 
especially if like me the nice police man was squatting behind a wall with his hat and hi vis jacket off and just the top oh his head and the gun showing about 600 yards away
the only saving grace is that Dave has sacked most of the police so its becoming a rare sight to see them doing speed enforcement now
especially if like me the nice police man was squatting behind a wall with his hat and hi vis jacket off and just the top oh his head and the gun showing about 600 yards away
the only saving grace is that Dave has sacked most of the police so its becoming a rare sight to see them doing speed enforcement now
Well mine went off on the way home from LM a few years ago when I was doing several leptons, braked to reduce my speed, and passed the policeman in the layby who never moved at all subsequently.
I think they can help by picking up splash off another vehicle and may get you some time to reduce speed into the ACPO area of you've just start strayed over by a little.
I think they can help by picking up splash off another vehicle and may get you some time to reduce speed into the ACPO area of you've just start strayed over by a little.
I had one once and it saved my bacon a couple of times. Heading off down an almost deserted A14 one Sunday morning at a steady 80 or so it started twittering sporadically. The camera van was a white speck in the distance, barely visible partially behind a grassy bank. He was clearly waving it about trying to get a bead on me from a long distance. When he did I was doing 70.
If I travelled today as much as I did in those days I would have one again.
If I travelled today as much as I did in those days I would have one again.
calibrax said:
No... once they detect the beam, it's too late... it's hit your car and is on its way back to the police transmitter to register your speed.
I years ago ran a snooper s3 neo.That went off once from a hand held gun so I was little surprised.
This subject was asked a few months ago and someone popped up with an expensive laser detector that was sensitive its could detected stray beams from other vehicles being gunned and alert you earlier. That was the claim made anyway.
Dave Hedgehog said:
the only saving grace is that Dave has sacked most of the police so its becoming a rare sight to see them doing speed enforcement now
Not been along the M74 much recently then?Every journey I do there this last few months (2 a week) I see either a marked or unmarked plod on a hump or slip road, passenger by the nearside door with a laser, or the driver in the car pointing a laser out the window.
I'm sure anyone using that road regularly would not bother speeding.... with the police and the Talivan on bridges, its just not worth it.
Some TomToms have a subscription to a camera database. The database itself is woeful compared to the PocketGPSWorld one BUT they also do have a 'live' feature. As they have a SIM card in, and are also connected to the RoadAngel servers, in theory, anyone passing an in use Talivan can press a icon on the TomTom (or button on the RoadAngel) to alert other users of a 'live' camera. They say that all other units are made aware of that camera within three minutes.
In practice, I would say it works fairly well. I have come across quite a few on the bridges where the TomTom alerted me, with I would say an 80% accuracy. I have mine set up so the fixed cameras and possible mobile ones are not alerted but the mobile 'live' ones are.
Sometimes I get an alert and nothing is there - Van has left, or whoever pressed the button thought a traffic master cam etc was a speed camera
Sometimes the camera van is there but no alert - Maybe its just set up, or no one else has pressed the button yet?
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