California Highway Patrol now has radar guns

Particularly with the warmer weather -- Ka band stuff, as is the radar they have in the cars (and pickup trucks) -- listen for that distinctive sound from the radar detector! (mine generates different sounds for X, K, and Ka)

... just the opposite. Maybe they knew the cost of the guns is far less than the revenue generated by them.

After all it works for smaller cities, so it can work for whole state. Especially if government screams for money.

...The top forty speed traps in the state of Texas raked in a total of $178,367,093 in speeding ticket revenue between 2000 and 2008 despite having a combined population of less than 56,000 residents. (...) The small community contracted with the Keller Police Department to have traffic units stake out Highway 114 to issue a high volume of tickets to drivers passing through the small town...
source: http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/30/3091.asp

You will not get a ticket if you obey the speed limit. Promise

Just like towns shortening the yellow light to "get" more red light violations......there ARE juristictions that "tinker" with things to catch more people speeding too.

While I think the term "speed trap" is over used, there ARE places where they do things that are unethical to write speeding tickets. They exploit loop-holes in the state laws.....like in a state that doesn't require a sign with advanced warning of a limit change.....and the first slower sign is posted just out of sight......over a hill or around a curve....and the radar is clocking people EXACTLY at the sign.

If you have never seen or been involved with one of those places, you are fortunate......but they DO exist. Trust me.

Those towns in Texas didn't make ALL that money just simply because there were that many people flaunting the law.

I live in the Sacramento area and have seen motorcycle cops off their bikes with radars on the freeway for years. I-80, I-50, Hwy 50...all of the major freeways around here.

The cops are going 'old school' again with radar guns, as they know most new detectors don't pick the signals up. The old ones do, but people discard them as worthless.

Surprise!

Nothing new in most parts of the Golden State. The rules may have changed but long ago the state legislature decided the CHP could use radar as long as local jurisdictions provided the gear. Enforcement has depended on whether local cities/counties have provided the CHP with radar/Lidar etc.

It's possible your local area just started giving the Chips their castoff guns after upgrading their own equipment.

Cheers

Tinkering with Radar? PLEASE!

Be careful when stopped because what you say may come back to bite you in court. The officer can be recording you on audio or video tape, or they will document your statements for use later in court. When in court you have to ask the right questions.

So which is it? A speed camera or a cop with a radar gun? it's gonna be one or the other,Just slow down and don't worry be happy.

Bet you don't think men walked on the moon either!

http://www.radarbusters.com/thestoparticle.cfm

I have seen no evidence of that. It appears to me that the new detectors cover all the old AND new technologies.

AND how do we know what technology the hand-helds you are seeing actually uses ??

My bet is laser because they give less "long range" detection capability.

You WILL get a ticket if you get stopped by a dishonest CHP officer like I did. The CHP is a corrupt organization that protects its dishonest members. You can't get justice out of them. So, if you think not speeding is the answer, good luck with that! You WILL get a ticket if the officer feels like giving one to you! And the court will believe all his lies, because it wants the income. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Laser is more effective on highly traveled roads such as interstate highways, because they are less influenced by other traffic. For example, with radar you are shooting a wide beam. It is very difficult to pick out a speeding vehicle when you have three or more lanes of traffic. However, with a laser gun, it is very easy to pick out the offending vehicle. As an ex-leo, I would choose the laser over the radar anytime when I was shooting traffic from a stationary position. Normally you would only use radar when you are on a two-lane highway or traffic is running light; e.g.; three or four o'clock in the morning on a multiple lane highway.

With the combative attitude you have here for what appears to be your first post, it's little wonder the CHP wrote you. Of course we only know your side of the story and we don't know what the officer saw or said. Having lived in the land of fruits, nuts & flakes and still visiting several times a year I know you have to be doing something fairly outrageous to begin with. Most officers I've seen along side the road will motion you to slow it down when you're about 15 over and they do definitely write with no excuses accepted for 20+ over.

Hopefully Escort Live will be successful. It is social networking for people with their radar detector, meaning they send alerts to your cell phone from others who pass it before you. You do have to keep their app active thru Bluetooth though.

Not sure how widespread the usage will be to make it worthwhile. One can hope. Currently i use the 9500ix and zr4 when travelling.

Your post name seems to match the impression one gets from your written post.

It almost sounds like you are implying that CHP officers get some financial reward for writing a ticket. Surely that is not the case, is it?

Like Box Car, I reacted to the attitude expressed. Painting any organization with as broad a negative brush as you have begs the question: "Exactly what happened to you that makes you so negative on CHP". Would you be willing to share your story with us?

Seems you started the year on the wrong foot. Lighten up, there are over 360 days to go!

I agree with the Laser gun theory. it is almost impossible to detect until its too late. I heard the only thing that comes close is a laser jammer.

Ohio and Jersey use laser quite a bit, I've been rather fortunate in my travels.

http://www.escortradar.com/store/laser-shifter-zr4.html

Glad I live in PA, the only state in the union that only the state police can use RADAR and then it's always stationary, locals must use some kind of electric timing device, which normally means VASCAR.

Big thing where I live is there's a lot of small towns and when traveling from one to the next the speed limit can go from 40 to 25 when you cross an intersection and they'll set up right at the change.

At least here in the Bay Area, CHP/local PD are very uncreative about where they park and use the same places over and over again. Of course, they're almost always using laser (harder to get an early warning) and parked somewhere using the terrain to make it difficult to see them until it's too late unless you're looking for them.

Outside of the Bay Area, on the freeways at least, I tend to see almost no laser and just Ka band. After a while I even turned off X and K band on my detector since it wasn't worth looking for.

Do the CHP use aircraft also?

If the signs are to be believed.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/168/375585107_c546a2e53c.jpg

The good news is that aircraft speed checking seems to have fallen out of vogue nowadays with the high cost of fuel.

I tend to set my cruise control for 5 mph over the limit. I've cruised right past CHP cars sitting by the road clocking people and I've also actually passed CHP cars on the highway. 5 mph is within the variance for speedometers, tire size, etc. I don't worry about getting a ticket if I'm going the limit or, at most, 5 mph over.

I absolutely LOVE the fact that my nüvi shows the speed limit for most places. I'm amazed that there are places I travel for work - CA 12 for instance between Fairfield and Napa - that don't have speed limit info on the nüvi. It's a place where I see people getting tickets pretty much every time I travel that stretch. It's a 55 mph zone and seems like it ought to be higher than that. I've always wondered why the maps don't include the speed limit info for that stretch of highway.