Hey fellow drivers - this has been really bugging me, because I cannot figure what the deal is, so I am posing the question to the community. Okay, so I was headed up I-20 a few days ago to Birmingham, and was doing about 80 or so (like everyone on that road) and a truck in the opposite lane flashed his lights. Being the prudent type these days, I pulled over in the slow lane, put the cruise on 71, and not more than a mile later, my very competent XTR-695 radar detector, on Highway mode, light up like like xmas, KA at full 9 bars; it bleeped frantically at me for about 2-4 secs, and then bam! that was.

So obviously I was hit with instant on KA, right? There was some enterprising AL HP parked somewhere (because I never spotted them) that zapped me.

Now, my questions is, there was lots of traffic all around me - in front, behind, all over the place - obviously I am not the only one getting zapped, so where was my warning from the radar detector? I have never had this happen before, usually I hear instant on KA, or wideband KA, or X from a looooong way away, long before I become the victim. But not this time.

So what's the deal? Any thoughts? Surely he/she nust have zapped somebody else in front of me with a 1/2 mile or closer, because that's the usual sensitivity of my detector, it's very good. I am mystified.

 

Not too familiar with your detector, but maybe he had just actually started shooting and may have been on the laptop before...

I have a v1, and the few encounters I've had wit I/O I detected it from the cop hitting other cars and u could tell it was I/O by the on and off pattern

 

I had a similar situation happen to me over the summer...I had a cop I/O me on K-band...I didn't pick up anything before hand, so I'm guessing he had just started shooting from that spot

 

^^ Right! The only thought I logically could come up with was that he was selectively targeting cars - i was a shiny G37 in the passing lane, expensive looking and sporty, and he probably was one of those guys who target cars like that as opposed to suvs or minivans (which what was all around me at the time). I need to go pose this question on the radar detector forums, I guess. Bob is the radar guy or something.

 

Some police will only shoot every few minutes or more as a means to not give speeders with a detector time to pick them up.

 

^ Yup. I only transmit when I see something that looks like it might he moving faster than the normal flow.

Also, depending on the radar's location, strength, hills, curves of the road, angles, etc you may not have been physically able to pick up the signal until you were near him.

 

Yea I'm on those forums as well

...I've had the V1 for several months now, highway cops tend to be more tricky with their radar use...

I tend to stay towards the right most lanes on the highway, and try and use a rabbit...I'm sure you know this already

 

I use rabbits, bit I sit in the left too much, and that and my car type tend to give me away I do believe. That being said, the two tickets I do have have nothing to do with speeding on the hwy. So I am pretty smart, reasonable and prudent about such things. I don't cruise at 90, and I don't swerve around traffic like a maniac. The worst I do is try to get by muddy trucks or somebody obviously dropp

 

Rabbit? Care to explain or post a link for more info on such methods?

 

I had no idea what it was either so I googled it and this is what I came up with:

If you are unable to find a pack of cars going the speed you would like to go, try to find a rabbit, or a single vehicle that is traveling the speed you would like to drive that you can then follow discretely 100 yards or so behind. If a cop using radar happens to be ahead, hopefully the rabbit will trip the radar trap and get the speeding ticket, not you. If the rabbit brakes suddenly, you can count on their being a reason. Of course, this won't work if a cop rolls up behind you.

 

In some states it won't help you at all. Especially if you don't see the cop, and he comes up behind you. I've been the guy following, and got pulled over along with the guy I was following. We both got tickets. This was in California.

Also, if there's 2 cops running a trap (since cops obviously have NOTHING better to do) one gets the guy in front, the second gets you.

 

^^ That's right. However, I understand that KA and X is not anywhere near as effective or accurate from behind so police don't do that all that often, but they are getting smart with the traps, like unusual unmarked vehicles driving at say, 3 mph over the speed limit, and when you pass them at a good clip, they either jam you up with radar right then, or simlpy pull you over because they know your were going at least faster than their speed, which was already over the limit.

The AL DPS / HP like to do the two man trap with various unmarked SUVs.

I try to let my rabbits get several football fields in front of me. at least 300 yards. 100 yards is way too close for (imo) 'rabbiting' to work. Or as truckers put, a 'front door.'

IN fact, your rabbit can get out of sight every once in a while - most rabbits I use/see are fools without any kind of protection, so if I know they don't have a radar (decent) on their dash, like a Pontiac Sunfire going 90, I'll happily let them get so far in front that they get out of sight everyonece in a while - if there is a trap waiting, even a two-man, or a two-man with a guy on an overpass and a guy in front, often the rabbit is so far ahead that the overpass guy zaps him and then tells the guy up from what to expect and then he is already in the process of pulling the foolish rabbit over so, I am ignored.

Or the overpass guy takes off after the rabbit to track, and ends up in front of me.

I like the lazy rookies in the stuck in the crappy crown vic with wideband X or Ka a-blaring behind a hill.

But what I hate most are arbitary speed limits set by local politicians and not traffic engineers and then unethically used for revenue generation by the local municipality.

 

I find it's the rookies that use I/O, POP.. they still get a kick out of it being a traffic cop. The experienced LEO's know they can easily catch the plethora of folks without detectors.

 

Well said....

 

It's all about collecting revenue.