Police clocking the FZ6? Is it harder?

[TownsendsFJR1300]

As for radar, all the officer has to do is pause the signal until he see's a suspected speeder, then turn off the pause sending out the signal, nabbing you... (I was training in both moving and stationary radar as PO before retiring).

The farther off the road the officer is, the more it gives you (less accurate and reads lower). Same for moving radar if on the interstate, he'll get a lower number of the target than the targets actual speed.. The higher the offset between the vehicles, the lower you'll read on his machine..

Now Lazer, from my understanding (not trained) they get the very tight lazer point right on you and your toast...

 

[Clay350]

Thanks guys. Pretty much what I suspected. Hopefully I "get it" now tool.

 

[FIZZER6]

That said, radar is still an effective tool in determining a bikes speed. The only time I've failed to get a good reading on a bike is if a larger vehicle is behind the motorcycle. The radar will display the speed of a vehicle with the strongest return signal.

Police officers are trained in the use of radar, and it's something they use on a daily basis. They're trained to listen to the doppler tone emitted by the radar unit to determine vehicle speed. Simply observing two vehicles and listening to the tone will help determine which vehicle is moving in excess of the speed limit.

For example, a bike passes a slower moving vehicle that's doing 60 mph. Once the bike gets back into it's lane the second doppler tone is higher pitched and returns a target speed of 80 mph. A simple 3-5 second tracking history is all that's needed to determine the bike was doing 80 while the slower vehicle was doing 60.

Or the cop pulls over the vehicle that looks faster (profiling) which happens more often than any police officer would care to admit. I've been pulled over 2 times for "speeding" when I was doing the limit while being passed by a faster moving vehicle.... my reason for being pulled over instead of him pulling the vehicle that was actually speeding? Driving a sporty, electric blue import car was my mistake....

...and perhaps the fact that I was the easier target once he pulled out to give chase since the speeding vehicle was well on up the road by then....

It's a shame that a few A-hole cops give all cops a bad name just as a few squids give all riders a bad name.

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Or the cop pulls over the vehicle that looks faster (profiling) which happens more often than any police officer would care to admit. I've been pulled over 2 times for "speeding" when I was doing the limit while being passed by a faster moving vehicle.... my reason for being pulled over instead of him pulling the vehicle that was actually speeding? Driving a sporty, electric blue import car was my mistake....

...and perhaps the fact that I was the easier target once he pulled out to give chase since the speeding vehicle was well on up the road by then....

It's a shame that a few A-hole cops give all cops a bad name just as a few squids give all riders a bad name.

Just as an FYI, for radar training, at least in Florida, your trained to get get a visual speed in your head before even looking at the radar machine.

Thus, if you estimate the target speed is 60 MPH but your radar reads 90 MPH, you would DISREGARD the 90MPH reading.

To pass the course you needed to be extremly close when estimating speeding cars, bikes (don't know what it is now) or you don't get certified. As you stated, if someone is passing a pack of cars visually and the radar jumps up, he's a winner!

Up to approx 80MPH, I could estimate within 2-4 MPH without the radar. The radar just backs up your visual estimate...

If I estimated someone for instance running 80 in a 50 zone and the radar malfunctioned, I could still write them under careless driving, violation gtraffic control device (speed limit sign) etc. So having a good radar detector still may not help...

 

[FIZZER6]

Just as an FYI, for radar training, at least in Florida, your trained to get get a visual speed in your head before even looking at the radar machine.

Thus, if you estimate the target speed is 60 MPH but your radar reads 90 MPH, you would DISREGARD the 90MPH reading.

To pass the course you needed to be extremly close when estimating speeding cars, bikes (don't know what is now) or you don't get certified. As you stated, if someone is passing a pack of cars visually and the radar jumps up, he's a winner!

Up to approx 80MPH, I could estimate within 2-4 MPH without the radar. The radar just backs up your visual estimate...

If I estimated someone for instance running 80 in a 50 zone and the radar malfunctioned, I could still write them under careless driving, violation gtraffic control device (speed limit sign) etc. So having a good radar detector still may not help...

I've been pulled over for "speeding" while the police car was traveling the other direction. You can't possibly estimate oncoming car speed when you are also traveling at 45-60 mph in the opposing direction, can you? Of course it was actually the large panel van that was passing me that was speeding, I was right at the speed limit but he pulled me over because I had a sporty car...got off with a warning because I have a clean record but that was still B.S.

 

[CowtownBiomed]

Keep your eyes open...

31 Years of riding here and not one single ticket..
I never ride the speed limit..ever..
But I dont do 275Kph (175Mph) very often either..:BLAA:

I have gone past RCMP set ups, and all they did was shake their finger at me...then I slowed down some..

Best thing for you to do is to keep your eyes open...if you have good eyes you can always see them before they can get a bead on you..
Its pretty easy to hide behind (or beside) larger vehicals too if you know how. (radar only though)
Lazer can pick you out of a crowd easily..

Up here they use Ladar excusivley for the trafic enforcment (manned)
Radar is only used on light and van cameras... you get to know where they hang out..

The "Trapster" App for the iphone does a dam job of tracking the enforcment points..
If you are in unfamiliar areas I highly recomend using it and lettting it run while you ride (headphones needed) it will send out a warning when you are getting close to known enforcment points..

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

I've been pulled over for "speeding" while the police car was traveling the other direction. You can't possibly estimate oncoming car speed when you are also traveling at 45-60 mph in the opposing direction, can you? Of course it was actually the large panel van that was passing me that was speeding, I was right at the speed limit but he pulled me over because I had a sporty car...got off with a warning because I have a clean record but that was still B.S.

Depending on conditions, yes you can estimate the target speed. That too is part of training..

Your operating in "Moving mode" vs "Stationary mode". The only real difference is your radar unit is monitoring police car speed as well as the target speed and figuring out the closing speed between both vehicles.

The police car speed should be dead on with the police car speedometer. In Florida, IF your running moving radar, the car speedometer HAS TO BE CERTIFIED bi yearly (at least it was before I retired).

If just using a gun or stationary, the police speedometer wouldn't make a difference.

Also, the further, diagonally, you are from the officer you are, his radar is less accurate and his reading of YOU, will be LOWER.

Next time your on the interstate, just watch the flow of traffic coming at you and then wait for someone speeding past. You'll get pretty good after doing it a couple of times. You can tell when someones doing 60 vs 70 or 80...

 

[patrickb37]

Radar waves are reflected by metal, so most bikes will probably have similar radar profiles. Plastic parts like fairings are essentially invisible to radar waves.
Radar cross-section - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I imagine it's especially hard to clock bikes using Lidar since the headlights are smaller and there's no front plates.

 

[why_not_Zoidberg?]

I got a 'failure to obey traffic control devices' here in PA a few weeks ago, though I really doubt he got a reading on me (state boy, so stationary radar). It was a back country road highway, and I passed a car at the same time the car and I passed him. He claimed he was giving me a break for not running, but I don't think he could possibly have gotten a reading on me.

I had just slowed down from 130 to 70 though, so I wasn't going to argue. 81$, no points, so whatever.

 

[FIZZER6]

I got a 'failure to obey traffic control devices' here in PA a few weeks ago...

My ONLY moving violation ever was for "Evading a traffic control device". What does that mean you ask?

It is what happens when you cut through a 7-11 parking lot to make a legal right on red instead of waiting for a 3 minute light to change and you get unlucky and there is an unmarked cop sitting in the parking lot with a dozen Krispy Kremes.

Tip: when avoiding a traffic control device, do not cut through the parking lot of a store that sells donuts. :BLAA:

 

[CanadianFZ6]

Re: Keep your eyes open...

31 Years of riding here and not one single ticket..
I never ride the speed limit..ever..
But I dont do 275Kph (175Mph) very often either..:BLAA:

The "Trapster" App for the iphone does a dam job of tracking the enforcment points..
..

yeh, but how well does the app work keeping you from donating your organs prematurely? :BLAA:

 

[CowtownBiomed]

Radar waves are reflected by metal, so most bikes will probably have similar radar profiles. Plastic parts like fairings are essentially invisible to radar waves.

I imagine it's especially hard to clock bikes using Lidar since the headlights are smaller and there's no front plates.

Actualy pretty much everything reflects radar waves...even clouds, your body, your helmet ect ect...

There are areas here, with concrete sound barriers, on both sides, where it is almost imposible to get a good radar reading on anything due to all of the reflections bouncing around.
With Lidar it is pretty easy to pick one bike out of a pack..unfortunatly..
But if you see them first...

 

[CowtownBiomed]

Re: Keep your eyes open...

yeh, but how well does the app work keeping you from donating your organs prematurely? :BLAA:

HA! Dunno, never had to donate.:thumbup:

I do let the app run and link it to my G9 though..works pretty neat..

 

[Vust123]

Last night was driving around, pulled up a wheely and hit 80 before I thought id better put it down, little known and behold there was a state trooper behind me and he puilled me over. He looked at me and said I couldnt get you on the gun so just dont do it again. I then asked the state trooper if its harder for them to clock motorcycles and he said it is true that it is harder to clock a motorcycle over a car.

 

[FIZZER6]

Last night was driving around, pulled up a wheely and hit 80 before I thought id better put it down, little known and behold there was a state trooper behind me and he puilled me over. He looked at me and said I couldnt get you on the gun so just dont do it again. I then asked the state trooper if its harder for them to clock motorcycles and he said it is true that it is harder to clock a motorcycle over a car.

If you want to ride wheelies at 80 mph be sure to trade in your bike for a GSX-R and trade your riding gear for flip flops and a T-shirt! :cheer:

 

[DownrangeFuture]

Last night was driving around, pulled up a wheely and hit 80 before I thought id better put it down, little known and behold there was a state trooper behind me and he puilled me over. He looked at me and said I couldnt get you on the gun so just dont do it again. I then asked the state trooper if its harder for them to clock motorcycles and he said it is true that it is harder to clock a motorcycle over a car.

The smaller profile is what does it for radar. The scan range for ladar is like 6 inches at a mile. The size of your bike doesn't matter there.

And no, not everything reflects radar. Fiberglass and most plastics are transparent to radar. Glass and chain link fence not so much. (I've seen decent parabolic antennas made from chicken wire.) Clouds are reflective to radar because they have water. But in the end, most police use beam type radar guns that use doppler (fast speed calculation) and have a beam width of 10' or so at a quarter mile. The smaller size doesn't matter too much. It's when they're directly in front or behind you that they can have a hard time.

None of that will stop a ticket though.

 

[jrevans]

I got a 'failure to obey traffic control devices' here in PA a few weeks ago, though I really doubt he got a reading on me (state boy, so stationary radar). It was a back country road highway, and I passed a car at the same time the car and I passed him. He claimed he was giving me a break for not running, but I don't think he could possibly have gotten a reading on me.

I had just slowed down from 130 to 70 though, so I wasn't going to argue. 81$, no points, so whatever.

Ah, the magical 3111(a). :rockon:

No points, and a decently low fee.

The last time that I got pulled over, I figured I'd try to save each of us a trip to the Magisterial District Office, and requested a 3111(a). He ran my license, saw that it was clean and gave me the 3111(a).

Most police are very nice, and I've received a fair amount of warnings versus citations. I've only had one or two officers be jerks. The worst was one in NJ who pulled me over in my Trans-Am at 2am on my way to the shore and treated me like I was a car thief.

Any time that I get pulled over in PA and don't get a 3111(a), I always take it to court to bargain it down. One time the officer even gave me a no-show, which dismissed my citation.

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

In Florida, they raised the speeding fines super, super high (+$200.00), enough that that the officer would write for "Failure to obey a TC device", a bit under $100.00 , no points if you do school..

Now if the guy had an attitude, different story....

The only speeding ticket I got (and earned) was back in Connecticut, approx 1978. The State Trooper had a serious attitude for a 19 year old kid in a hopped up 1968 Chevelle with NY plates on it. BTW, I was super courteous as my step father was a County Police Officer in LI, NY and I always respected the police..

 

[ChevyFazer]

In Florida, they raised the speeding fines super, super high (+$200.00), enough that that the officer would write for "Failure to obey a TC device", a bit under $100.00 , no points if you do school..

Now if the guy had an attitude, different story....

The only speeding ticket I got (and earned) was back in Connecticut, approx 1978. The State Trooper had a serious attitude for a 19 year old kid in a hopped up 1968 Chevelle with NY plates on it. BTW, I was super courteous as my step father was a County Police Officer in LI, NY and I always respected the police..

We just had a new law go into effect a couple years ago that is very similar, It's called the super speeder law. If you get caught going 75mph or above on a 2 lane road the state sends you another $300 fine on top of the ticket or 85mph or above on any other road.

 

[FIZZER6]

We just had a new law go into effect a couple years ago that is very similar, It's called the super speeder law. If you get caught going 75mph or above on a 2 lane road the state sends you another $300 fine on top of the ticket or 85mph or above on any other road.

In Virginia any speed over 80mph on any roadway is an automatic reckless driving citation and 4-5 points on top of your speeding fines.