TexasCHLforum.com

Yep,

It finally happened, yesterday afternoon, I was pulled over by on of the finest Traffic Patrol Unit (unmarked patrol car), Officer BB.

Place: Driving southbound from Allen, TX to Plano, TX on Service Road of I-75 somewhere just after Chase Oaks Blvd(i.e. just entering Plano City limits)
Time: Around 5:30 to 6:00 PM
Reason for being pulled over: Speeding, Officer BB claimed that I was clocked at 63 MPH in 50 zone. In fact, the speed in Allen section of the road is posted at 55 MPH.
Intent of the trip was to drive to Carrabass Restaurant to enjoy a nice Italian dinner with my wife and our Daughter of 7 and our son of 3.


The story is I did not notice the hidden, um marked black car was in pursuit, till It was square in my rear view mirror and the Xmas tree lights are flashing crazy. And, I was now entering the I-75. As soon as I noticed that I was being pulled over by the patrol car in my rear view mirror, I proceed to slow down and find a safe parking spot on the merge-in lane to the I-75.

My wife in the passenger seat, both kids are in the back seat, Ryan in his car seat and Yesmeena both wear seat belts. The officer run our Lic Plate number and of course discovered that I do carry. He approached our car from the passenger side, introduced himself as Officer BB from Plano PD traffic enforcement unit. He just added that I was doing 63 MPH in and accelerating fast, he did past 70 and was not able to catch me quickly. I responded that I do believe that I was doing 55. He requested IDs and proof of Insurance. My wife hand him over the docs from my wallet. And, I asked her to hand over my CHL too. The officer asked if I am carrying my firearm, I said: "yes". He asked where is it? I mentioned that it is in fanny pack on the weak side of my waist. He requested both home and work cell numbers and confirmed my home address. He asked why I was in a rush. My wife noted we are hungry and we where on our way to have dinner at Carrabass.

He went back to his car and proceeded to write up the ticket. Came back and asked me to sign it as notice to show up at court in 15 days. I kindly responded that I do understand the process. He finally, mentioned that I can benefit from defensive course and keep the ticket of my records. And, thanked us for Courtesy!

Ah, now wife said, go get your Valentine One installed in my RL instead of her MDX!

now I have spend some 10 hrs in a defensive driving school. Bonus I get some $50 discount from GEICO.

What is a Valentine One?

Purplehood wrote:What is a Valentine One?

http://www.valentine1.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
a $400 toy. Rather have a new gun and get there slower...

Thought so. BTW, isn't a laser detector a waste of time? If a laser is detected, it means it is already on you, correct?

Yes, when the laser detector goes off, it means you have been caught. So what if the speed limit was 50 or 55, if you were doing 63, you were over the limit, and the fact that you didn't notice the unmarked until he was on your bumper is probably a good indication of how much attention you were paying, it's not like Plano's unmarked cars are very stealthy.

There are very few times you will detect laser unless it has been aimed right at you, and as you mentioned, then it is too late. Also, radar detectors are no match against instant-on radar guns.

I do own a radar detector, and have for years. It has saved me while going from areas where the speed is higher (60 or more) to 35 - 45 MPH zones like going into small towns. The local law enforcement folks love to sit there and get you if you haven't slowed down quite enough.

The Valentine 1 is a very good radar detector. However, it is not as sensitive as some of the newer units. Bel and Escort are now the same company and they have a couple of units that outperform the V1.

The V1 does have a feature that no other radar detectors have though, and that is dual receivers/antennas that will indicate the direction the radar signal is coming from. It is handy to help weed out false alarms from door openers and other RF radiating devices in the speed radar bands.

Now, back on topic. Glad you had a good encounter. Many folks would be upset that they got written up. Plano's officers for the most part are courteous and very good to deal with.

Request deferred adjudication instead of Defensive Driving.
About the same cost, probationary period in Plano (only), no class to waste a day in.
Of course, you don't get the insurance discount either.

I must apologize for seeming as though I was making a personal attack, my comments would have applied to anyone caught speeding.

Sorry about the ticked at least it was a pleasant stop and that is good to hear.

-geo

My radar detector is a Cobra with laser alert. The owner's manual points out that if the laser is targeted at you, then you're caught. Period. However, it also says that it is capable of picking up reflected laser - meaning that if another car is being targeted, some of the laser will be reflected and scattered, and your radar/laser detector may pickup that scatter and warn you that laser is in use. Apparently, because of the surface angles of the targeted vehicle, not 100% of the outgoing beam is returned to the sending unit, and that part that doesn't return to the sender may be picked up by devices in other vehicles and warn the drivers.

True story that happened to me once. The first radar/laser detector I owned was purchased from a Radio Shack. I think it was whatever their house brand was at the time. Anyway, I'm still in California, and I'm driving along the 118 Freeway in the north San Fernando valley, near Porter Ranch. All of a sudden, my detector lets off a laser warning at full intensity. I'm going about 70-75 in the left hand lane. There are NO cops around. NO overpasses. There is absolutely no reason that I can figure out for why my laser detector should be going off, but there it is, louder than heck. . . . .and yet, I'm not getting pulled over. Finally, the ruckus stops, and I keep cruising along.

A couple of weeks later, I'm out at the Edwards Airforce Base air show, and I get to talking with an F117 pilot. I asked him some kind of general question about the laser targeting system on the plane. He tells me that they sometimes fly training missions in which they cruise above the 118 at 30,000 ft and target cars below with their lasers to see if they can keep the beam on a moving target! Near as I can tell, that's what happened to me that day on the freeway.

You will also find that you will get a laser alert triggered by navigation radio systems at some airports/Air Force bases. However, that will pretty well consistently happen in the same areas day after day. If it was a one-time deal, then there is a good chance what he said was your case!

The Annoyed Man wrote:My radar detector is a Cobra with laser alert. The owner's manual points out that if the laser is targeted at you, then you're caught. Period. However, it also says that it is capable of picking up reflected laser - meaning that if another car is being targeted, some of the laser will be reflected and scattered, and your radar/laser detector may pickup that scatter and warn you that laser is in use. Apparently, because of the surface angles of the targeted vehicle, not 100% of the outgoing beam is returned to the sending unit, and that part that doesn't return to the sender may be picked up by devices in other vehicles and warn the drivers.

I have experienced this with my detector when there is a decent amount of traffic ahead of me and the cop is using a laser.

If I'm all alone I do not get that warning.

That is why I generally drive slower when no other cars are around.

I figure that my radar detectors have saved me several thousand dollars in fines over the years. Well worth the investment as I can't seem to remotely stay within the speed limits. Thank goodness I don't have a sports car (yet ).

When laser first came out, the word seemed to be that if your laser detector went
off, you had been lased and should get your license and insurance card ready.

My Valentine 1 will pick up laser scatter. Lewisville PD runs laser on I-35E, Norhtbound, near
FM407 (Justin Road). He points it at cars in the fast lane. I usually travel in the
rightmost travel lane and can pick up the scattered signal.

I have also equipped my vehicle front and back with clear plastic license plate covers.
The reason is that police officers are supposed to point their lasers at a flat spot on
the lased vehicle, most commonly your front license plate. The specific covers that I have are
said to diffuse the laser beam and will not bounce back cleanly to the officer's device.

Laser false alarms - These are also caused by Lexuses and Infiniti's that have some kind
of vehicle-sensing cruise control.

I am a big fan of my Valentine One. It has great range, it has arrows which tell you which
direction the speed-sensing device is located, the number of threats (in case there's multiple
officers working the area), and even flashes a "J" for "Junk" when it's had time to process the
threat. Many times "Junk" signals emanate from cheap detectors whose "mixing signal" does not
remain inside their units and leak out to be found by better detectors.

This is one of the few devices that does not just notify you that you just got a ticket, it will actually jam the laser gun. works pretty well too .
http://www.blinder.net/

hheremtp wrote:This is one of the few devices that does not just notify you that you just got a ticket, it will actually jam the laser gun. works pretty well too .
http://www.blinder.net/

A friend of mine bought a device at the Dayton Hamfest some years back. It was supposed to fool radar into showing that you are doing 55. He drove back from Dayton and was very satisfied that he had done all those high speeds and not gotten one ticket, until he got off the interstate near Albany NY and almost immediately got ticketed for 55 in a 30 zone.