Radar Detector Mount ideas?

[Heimkehr]

It’s a Jeep Wrangler. You should not need a radar detector. If you drive this vehicle in a way that warrants you resurrecting this thread, you should be careful with your driving as you might be the one soon needing the resurrection.

I get the spirit of what you're saying, but a couple of months ago, I was cited for five over on a rural two-lane with corn fields on both sides of the road. No traffic in either direction. The posted limit was 25 MPH. I was literally tootling along at 30 MPH. In the Jeep.

Capricious speed enforcement is real, Patrick. There's no harm in trying to protect ourselves.

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[Tr4ckD4ys]

I get the spirit of what you're saying, but a couple of months ago, I was cited for five over on a rural two-lane with corn fields on both sides of the road. No traffic in either direction. The posted limit was 25 MPH. I was literally tootling along at 30 MPH. In the Jeep.

Capricious speed enforcement is real, Patrick. There's no harm in trying to protect ourselves.

You forget I am German. I love rules. If it says 25, I go 25.

 

[Heimkehr]

I am German. I love rules. If it says 25, I go 25.

Fair enough.

 

[WXman]

I get the spirit of what you're saying, but a couple of months ago, I was cited for five over on a rural two-lane with corn fields on both sides of the road. No traffic in either direction. The posted limit was 25 MPH. I was literally tootling along at 30 MPH. In the Jeep.

Capricious speed enforcement is real, Patrick. There's no harm in trying to protect ourselves.

I was about to say the exact same thing. Radar detectors are MOST often helpful when you are not on the interstate.

 

[Heimkehr]

I was about to say the exact same thing. Radar detectors are MOST often helpful when you are not on the interstate.

Yep. I had just completed a sharp 90° corner on that road, which had forced me to slow to just below 20 MPH. If only my right foot had the discipline to not then accelerate that extra 5 MPH...

Seriously, though, after receiving that ridiculous piece of payin' paper, I had fresh sympathy for those motorcycle riders who, in similar circumstances, just twist wrist to get away.

 

[No Spark V6]

I know this is an old thread, but where did you find this mount?

I modeled it and had it printed

 

[Whaler27]

I use a Velcro dash mount that I got from Amazon. Sticky on both sides. Slap one side onto bottom of detector, other side to chosen spot on the dash. Works like a charm. Nothing to hard wire. Nothing to fall off the windshield on a hot day.

Last year I bought a Uniden R3 detector after years of lower priced detectors. GAME CHANGER. The R3 alerts me to Ka band (which is what 95% of cops use around here) before they can even been seen with the naked eye. Over hill tops, around curves, doesn't matter. The R3 is spot-on from a mile away or more. It's unbelievable. Has saved my bacon on numerous occasions, and after the very first save the R3 paid for itself.

I suspect you’d feel similarly confident in your detector if you were using a decent 30 year old unit, like one of the old Escort models, for example. Descriptions of their performance were identical, and police radar technology has changed very little over the last couple decades.

As I mentioned earlier, like many others, I often left my “instant on” radar unit turned on and emitting while I was doing paperwork or required computer training in the interstate median. I would never leave the radar turned on like that if I was actually working speed enforcement, but intentional speeders running radar detectors reflexively slow down when they hear their detectors beep, and slowing them helps reduce the differential between the fastest and slowest vehicles AND slow the overall traffic flow. Both results promote traffic safety, which is the objective. Of course, every person who slows following the beep of their detector thinks their unit has saved them a ticket. I probably produced several dozen pro-detector testimonials every time I spent an hour working through training or paperwork in the median. That’s thousands of illusory “saves” every year.

When I was actually working speed enforcement, I would often go three or four minutes between toggling the radar unit on, and the unit would remain on for only a few seconds. I wasn’t looking for people driving only 6 or 10 mph over the limit. I was looking for the idiots at 20+ over the limit, because they represent the greatest safety threat to other motorists. People at 20+ over the speed limit are easy to pick out, in light or heavier traffic, because of the contrast between their speed and the speed of other vehicles, particularly commercial vehicles. (FYI, our radar units can “see” the fastest vehicles even when there are several vehicles between the radar head and the target vehicle. )

My focus on only the fastest vehicles meant that I seldom switched my radar on without eventually stopping the target vehicle. The radar was simply confirming estimated speed — basically whether the vehicle was 18 mph over the limit, 22 over, or whatever. That means that the folks running detectors a quarter mile behind that speeder weren’t really “saved“ either, because, usually, my radar had already been turned off and, almost always, I had already identified the vehicle I was going to stop. Other speeders aren’t at much risk of being stopped when I’m in the process of stopping another vehicle.

Are there situations where a radar detector might actually save you? Of course. Individual police agencies and officers have different practices, and there were undoubtedly times when I decided not to stop the guy who was only 17 over, but the reflection of my radar pulse alerted the guy a quarter mile behind him who was 30 mph over the limit, but I suspect the ratio of perceived/reported “saves“ to actual saves is 100s or 1000s to 1.

I pinched more people with radar detectors than I can count. The overwhelming majority were surprised that their unit didn’t alert them in time. Most of them had prior speeding tickets, and the majority of them got a ticket from me. (That’s in contrast to my general practice of issuing only warnings to about 65% to 70% of the people I stopped. Contrary to popular myth, we had no “quotas”, revenue from citations didn’t come back to our agency, and warnings and citations were “scored” as equivalent measures of enforcement activity. The objective was always to stop reckless and/or impaired idiots from killing or injuring innocent motorists.)

 

[mixdup]

Contrary to popular myth, we had no “quotas”, revenue from citations didn’t come back to our agency, and warnings and citations were “scored” as equivalent measures of enforcement activity.

If you were being scored on enforcement activity, you had a quota. Even if they didn't write one down, or tell you one to your face, there was a number below which someone would've had a conversation with you

 

[TopGunViper]

I mounted mine bottom of my interior light bar with Velcro and hardwired the power into the rear view mirror.

 

[Whaler27]

If you were being scored on enforcement activity, you had a quota. Even if they didn't write one down, or tell you one to your face, there was a number below which someone would've had a conversation with you

You miss the point. We were expected to be active, so activity was tracked, but verbal warnings were considered equivalent to citations, as was assisting a motorist by changing a tire. The point, which should have been clear from the context, is there was no incentive/encouragement to issue tickets instead of warnings.

As a practical matter, if a department had quotas which it didn’t enforce or reward, quotas would have zero effect.

 

[Casper_]

I suspect you’d feel similarly confident in your detector if you were using a decent 30 year old unit, like one of the old Escort models, for example. Descriptions of their performance were identical, and police radar technology has changed very little over the last couple decades.

The technology did change indeed. 30 years ago X band was the main radar band, now it's used by supermarket doors mainly. Same on the detection side - some units are able to detect miles ahead.

[...] The objective was always to stop reckless and/or impaired idiots from killing or injuring innocent motorists.)

This is what speed enforcement should really be about, not just another line item revenue for municipalities.

Germany has less accidents on Autobahn, so speed itself is not the killer. Impaired and revolving door justice system is.

 

[Casper_]

You miss the point. We were expected to be active, so activity was tracked, but verbal warnings were considered equivalent to citations, as was assisting a motorist by changing a tire. The point, which should have been clear from the context, is there was no incentive/encouragement to issue tickets instead of warnings.

As a practical matter, if a department had quotas which it didn’t enforce or reward, quotas would have zero effect.

Can't talk about your department, but many do have quotas. Even for parking. Got tickets for LAWFUL parking in NYC just because I had an out of state license plate and they assumed it would be easier to pay it that show up in court to fight it.

 

[WXman]

All I know is that when my detector can see a speed trap before I can, it works. Period. Won't ever drive without one now.

 

[Whaler27]

I get the spirit of what you're saying, but a couple of months ago, I was cited for five over on a rural two-lane with corn fields on both sides of the road. No traffic in either direction. The posted limit was 25 MPH. I was literally tootling along at 30 MPH. In the Jeep.

Capricious speed enforcement is real, Patrick. There's no harm in trying to protect ourselves.

I remember when you first described this incident. This kind of police behavior does great harm. It’s always discouraging to hear about It, as people remember examples of police misconduct better than those of good conduct about 1000 to 1.

When I was a teenager, the speed limit on the rural road I was driving went from 55 to 35 to 25 in the span of a quarter mile. A small town cop (Coburg) was sitting under the trees immediately behind the 25 mph sign pointing his radar gun at the 55 zone. He ticketed me for over 60 in a 25 zone. I was speeding, barely, but not in the 25 zone. I paid the ticket anyway, because I knew the deck was stacked against me, but it left a terrible taste in my mouth and I never forgot it, obviously. In the nearly five decades since, I’ve probably told that story more than 200 times. I’ve also shared it with various Coburg Police chiefs over the years. (The current chief is a good man and a principled cop. Still, there are undoubtedly plenty of locals whose opinions of police remain tarnished by the tool-bag who wrote me that ticket in the 70s.)

 

[Whaler27]

All I know is that when my detector can see a speed trap before I can, it works. Period. Won't ever drive without one now.

This is hilarious!

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