Can Police Tell If You Have a Radar Detector?

Radar detectors are handy for drivers who don’t want to pay for speeding tickets. All states in America have speed limits, and there are instances where you won’t even notice that you are already going over the limit. The police use speed radars to detect if cars are overspeeding, but radar detectors made them ineffective as they would signal the driver to slow down.

Radar detectors, can police tell if you have one? This is one of the questions that you probably have right now. We will answer this question, and we will also provide you some basic information about radar detectors and how they work.

How Does Speed Radar Work?

Speed radar emits electromagnetic signals when it is turned on, and the police officer will target a specific car. The signal will then hit the object, and the signal will bounce back to the receiver. Based on the signal bounced back to the system, the radar will determine the targeted vehicle’s direction, speed, and distance.

How can Radar Detectors Counter This?

The radar detector system would pick up the electromagnetic signals released by speed radar. They usually pick up AM and FM frequency signals just like a traditional radio. Even if the police officer is not targeting your vehicle, your radar detector will detect these electromagnetic signals, and the device will signal to the driver in the form of a bleep or blinking light.

If you see the signal, you can release the throttle and hit the brakes to reduce your speed. Once the speed radar hits you, it will detect that your speed is normal. Even if the cops feel that you were speeding, they won’t pull you over for a speeding ticket because the speed radar did not detect that you were speeding.

Radar Detectors, Can Police Tell if you Have One?

Radar detectors are not illegal in most of the United States. However, if you are from Virginia or Washington DC, it is better to remove your radar detector because it would mean jail time for you if the cops caught you using it.

However, even if they are not illegal in most states, police have a way of knowing if you have a radar detector. Here are some of the ways that they would know if you have a radar detector.

1. Your Reaction

The cops won’t be able to see the reaction on your face, but it pertains to your car’s actions when you are very close to them. Radar detectors are not turned on at all times. Police officers already know that most drivers might have radar detectors, but they cannot simply make an assumption.

They will target you with the speed radar, and once the radar detector signal goes off, your first reaction would be to slow down and hit the brakes. If you hit the brakes, your brake lights will turn on, and your front end and headlights will dip down. From this alone, the cops will already know that you have a radar detector because before the speed radar manages to get the information from your car, you have already slowed down.

These cops are trained, and they can estimate your speed before you even get close to the speed radar. If they targeted you, it means that they are suspecting that you are speeding.

2. Radar Detectors are Visible

You cannot keep your radar detector under your seat or in the compartment of your car. It has to be placed in an unobstructed view out of the front window. It means that when you drive past the cops, or you are pulled over by the officer, they will see that you have a radar detector in your car. It won’t be a problem if you are driving in a state where radar detectors are legal.

3. Radar Detector Detectors (RDDs)

Radar detectors usually leak a very weak signal, and this is what RDDs can detect. They are designed to detect these leaked signals. Some police officers use these devices, especially for places where radar detectors are illegal. They use them to apprehend drivers that use radar detectors to evade the law. However, there is a countermeasure for this.

More advanced radar detectors can shield these weak signals and prevent RDDs from detecting them. It means that if the police officers are using RDDs, it will be useless as they won’t pick up any signal, no matter what they do.

4. Police Training

Police officers undergo training when using radar devices. This is to help them efficiently use them and apprehend drivers who are speeding on highways. Basically, they can now visually estimate the speed of a vehicle. It means that they only need to use their eyes to determine how fast the vehicles are moving. This is something that they would develop through continuous training.

It means that they will only turn the speed radar on if they noticed that a specific vehicle is speeding on the highway. If this happens and the speed radar targeted your car, the police officer would have already targeted you before your radar detector goes off.

The only way for you to detect the signal is if the police officer decided to leave the speed radar turned on or target a vehicle close to you.

Conclusion

Radar detectors are extremely effective, and many people use them, but you cannot completely guarantee that one would protect you from the watchful gaze of police officers. Police officers may also use RDDs, so if you plan to buy a radar detector for your car, make sure that you buy one that can protect you from RDDs.

Before you travel to a different place,  research their laws concerning speeding to ensure that radar detectors are legal. This will give you a heads up if you should use one or not.