A radar gun for everyone

Washington Times ^ | Friday, May 30, 2003 | House Editorial

[JohnHuang2]

The lengths to which police departments are going to bust drivers for minor infractions get nuttier by the day. In Fairfax County, Virginia, county supervisors are considering a scheme to provide radar guns to civilians to combat speeding. This so-called citizen radar patrol is one neighborhood-watch program we are wholeheartedly against.

[JohnHuang2]

Friday, May 30, 2003

Quote of the Day by Grampa Dave

[Rifleman]

Straight from 12th grade into junior college
Buddy, buddy, buddy I passed my exam
They’re making me a law enforcement person
Got me a gun and a badge, I’m a man

Radar Gun, Radar Gun

43 from where I was sittin’
30 miles an hour is the law of our land
Please remove your license, find your registration
And what is the name of your insurance man?

Radar Gun, Radar Gun
I’m makin’ money and I’m havin’ fun with my
Radar Gun, Radar Gun
With my brand new Radar Gun

You know our Sheriff William Buckburger
Says our mayor’s got a master plan
A new post gun meets the cost of livin’
And one of them stoplights down on Grand

Radar Gun, Radar Gun
I’m makin’ money and I’m havin’ fun with my
Radar Gun, Radar Gun
With my brand new Radar Gun

Schedule 19 on a special election
Got our money problems right in hand
Droppin’ them limits like a hot potato
50 down to 30 oh man, oh man

Radar Gun, Radar Gun
I’m makin’ money and I’m havin’ fun with my
Radar Gun, Radar Gun
With my brand new Radar Gun
Brand new shiny Simmons Radar Gun

Me and my partner go patrol car crusin’
on the parking lots at the shopping malls
Scanning those dashes, those mirrors and visors,
the little detectors that ruin it all
Johnny got one on an ’86 T-bird,
Pull up slow just as close as I can
Milli-watt seconds on maximum output,
We’ll dust that puppy with one small blast from my

Radar Gun, Radar Gun
I’m makin’ money and I’m havin’ fun with my
Radar Gun, Radar Gun
With my brand new Radar Gun

The Bottle Rockets

[opticoax]

I urge everyone who gets a speeding ticket to challenge it and tie up the courts.

I received one the other day in Medford, Massachusetts. They have been ordered to start upping the ticket violations to raise money "for the children". Then they tacked on a $25 head-injury fund to my ticket.

Anyone who gets a ticket should go to www.motorists.org href = "www.motorists.org"

[opticoax]

I urge everyone who gets a speeding ticket to challenge it and tie up the courts.

I received one the other day in Medford, Massachusetts. They have been ordered to start upping the ticket violations to raise money "for the children". Then they tacked on a $25 head-injury fund to my ticket.

Anyone who gets a ticket should go to www.motorists.org for some good advice and strategies on how to beat tickets.

[ampat]

Only if citizens can ticket policemen who speed unnecessarily.

[Vinnie_Vidi_Vici]

Just think, if a couple of us got ahold of one of those radar guns. We could clock city officials, the Mayor, state representatives and just keep turning them in to the police. How long do you think it would take before they abandoned this idea?

[Jack of all Trades]

Only if citizens can ticket policemen who speed unnecessarily.

What, you mean the cops I regularly see doing 90 in the clear, tailgating anyone in their way, all the while yacking on cell phones aren't on emergency calls?

[Chemist_Geek]

Neighborhood patrols hiding behind trash cans and planter boxes to zap commuters are merely the latest in a string of stunts some police departments are employing to harass commuters. In Kissimmee, Florida, last week, Osceola County sheriffs went undercover as homeless — going so far as to sit on sidewalks in rags and fake rotten teeth — to catch motorists unawares at a stop light. These tricky lawmen handed out 171 $83 tickets.

Huh? Does the Times subscribe to the position that lawbreaking is OK, if one doesn't get caught? How is it "harassment" to cite violations of traffic laws?

Avoiding a ticket is easy - abide by the traffic laws.

[bvw]

Well you could buy a JUGS radar gun -- like coaches use for clocking pitches. That's a quite a few hundred dollars. Or you could buy a kit you build yourself, say the "Ramsey SG7 Speedy Radar Kit" for $60.

[MineralMan]

"Avoiding a ticket is easy - abide by the traffic laws."

Yup. I've had a driver's license since 1962. I've had exactly one ticket...for a burned out taillight. I've never been involved in a traffic accident. Why? I obey the traffic laws and follow the defensive driving lessons taught to me by my father, who's been driving since 1940. He's also never had an accident and hasn't had any tickets at all in his entire driving career.

Yet, we keep hearing on this thread from people who are rather proud of the fact that they break the speed limit laws. Phooey on them, I say. I hope they're paying huge fines and car insurance bills for their efforts.

[MineralMan]

"Just think, if a couple of us got ahold of one of those radar guns. We could clock city officials, the Mayor, state representatives and just keep turning them in to the police. How long do you think it would take before they abandoned this idea?"

Great idea. I'm especially ticked at government vehicles that aren't following the traffic laws.

[Dan from Michigan]

I'm a highway star!

[AFreeBird]

This is too funny. Radar detectors are illegal in VA, but they're gonna give the average Joe a Radar GUN?

Great way to JAM other radar guns. :-)

[ScottinSacto]

I've been drivin' all night, my hand's wet on the wheel...
We've got a thing that's called Radar Love

Where do I sign up??? I have a little 25mph road behind my house, and since it is a straightaway, folks routinely get to 80-90mph. When Fast and Furious 2 comes out it is gonna be like a dragstrip I am sure. Already let CHP and local PD know where they could go to help balance their budgets....

[RockyMtnMan]

I abide by the the traffice laws in areas that I know they are enforced to generate revenue for the municipality. Have you noticed the latest trend of setting up a "construction zone" so fines can be doubled only to see no construction actually occurring?

[RockyMtnMan]

The law is not suposed to be used as a revenue source for the government, that sets a bad precident don't you think?

[Lloyd227]

"Only if citizens can ticket policemen who speed unnecessarily."

That's EXACTLY what I was thinking as I read this.

Almost daily here in SE Connecticut, I get passed by a state trooper who is exceeding the posted speed limit usually by 15 or more mph.

It is not uncommon to see a city cop at a light, flip his flashers on simply so he can drive through the intersection without waiting when, if you follow him, you'll see that he had no where in particular to go.

[Geritol]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/914953/posts

As in the anonymous tip law in the post above, this is all we need, more trigger happy (radar gun only, hopefully) people empowered to act above the law and bring fraudulent accusations against whoever they have anything against either real or imagined, while it will be harder and harder to face your accuser. Would this help cut down some on bad driving? Quite possibly. Is it worth it? Unlikely.

[lainie]

Even worse, ideas like citizen radar patrols are dangerously close to old Soviet police-state policies of turning citizens into informers on their neighbors.

I don't know what the Wash Times is so upset about. Just this morning I heard a PSA on the radio urging me to call this number if I "even suspect" child abuse. I'm just being a good neighbor, suh.

[MatthewViti]

perhaps the Dunkin Donuts.

[Abe Froman]

NO DOUBT.....

I would be the first to apply for a radar gun and then proceed to follow and radar every single police officer I could find. Just last night on the way home a squad car went by me and speed off down the highway. Police need to abide by the laws they enforce on other people (or face dismissal.)