Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 5, 1990 TAG: 9007050308
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Police began using the devices, which signal the use of illegal radar detectors, in three areas of the state in recent weeks.
Eight of the dashboard-mounted black boxes have been delivered to police in Richmond, Culpeper and Fairfax.
"The radar-detector detector is really just another tool to help us enforce the law," Trooper K.L. Stiles said.
His message to motorists using radar detectors: "If you operate with one, you should expect to be caught."
In 20 minutes sitting at an exit north of Richmond on Interstate 95, not a minute went by when Stiles' detector did not pick up the signal from a radar detector.
"The radar detectors emit a microwave signal and the radar-detector detector is tuned so that it picks up that signal," explained state police spokesman Charles Vaughan. "It works just like a radar detector."
A beeper sounds and a little red light flashes when the device picks up a radar detector. As the trooper begins to pursue the car or truck, the light on the device begins flashing stronger and the beep is faster.
The device is able to sense radar detectors from as far away as 1,600 feet.
Lawyers and judges who have accompanied troopers on the road to see the device in operation all have the same reaction, Stiles said. "They just love it. They are very confident" the devices will net speeders who used to evade the law.
"The only reason for a radar detector is to speed . . . to break the law," Vaughan said.
Police and insurance company representatives believe by enforcing the laws against radar detectors there will be fewer speeders and, consequently, fewer accidents.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety estimates at least one in eight motorists is using a radar detector in Maryland and Virginia and that those cars are more likely to be traveling at high speeds.
Radar detectors are also illegal in Washington and Connecticut.
"They should be banned elsewhere, too," said Brian O'Neill, a spokesman for the Insurance Institute, "especially now that radar detector detectors are available to help enforce the bans."
In Ontario, Canada, where police have been using the detector detectors since 1988, hundreds of radar detectors have been seized and destroyed.
Vaughan said no statistics are kept on how many radar detectors are confiscated in Virginia, and that often the only penalty is a speeding ticket.
Because radar detectors cannot be sold in Virginia, consumers often use mail order catalogs or cross state lines to buy them, Vaughan said.
by CNB