Many people have a $100.00 radar detector to alert them of speed traps. But realize the authorities are in need of more budget money and they are going to get it from you and I anyway they can. The Tax revenues in many states has dwindled, cities which rely on a contribution of property taxes and sales tax are finding problems in areas which have lost population base or the economies are just doing the best they can locally. This is why you will find states trying to increase their revenues for their Transportation Departments much like the British did when we decided that we were going to throw some tea in the water. Popeye the famous cartoon character was always frustrated by these taxes, fines and fees.
Well America, they are going to get their money some how and probably from you and I. At the CES Show this year there was a seminar that listed between 15-22 million Americans have some sort of radar detector in at least one of their vehicles. Average American has 1.8 cars in metro area and subs and 1.1 in rural areas. About 20,000 X-Band radar units are installed in police vehicles in the US, which a small $90-100 radar detector can detect. But more than half are those of K-Band requiring a more sophisticated unit. And of course the latest Ka-Band with about 30-35 %. A cool book to read is "Fast Driving-without tickets" By Mr Peterson, available at Wal-Mart. He has a web site called
http://www.RadarTest.com
And as if the game of cat and mouse is not enough there is a group that does a cannon ball run in the US with exotic sport scars every year from San Francisco to Miami. Usually racking up $25,000 in fines and this year four impounded cars and 6 arrests. 30 cars in all. There is a users group on the Internet rec.auto.driving where sports enthusiasts go and discuss these issues. What few are understanding is that the troops using X-Band can sit and wait and then turn on their X-Band radar at the last minute and the driver would have no chance to slow down, even those with scanners for finding the other radios on will not work if the policeman turns off all electronics. This works well catching vehicles on highways in the middle of nowhere, where actually there is little risk of harming anyone, it is basically a way to raise revenues.
So forget being sneaky, just slow down and enjoy the fact that you have freedom and you can exercise it out on the highways and byways of America.
By Lance Winslow
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