Maintaining the ban is not in the best interest of Virginians or visitors to the state. I know and know of people that will not drive in Virginia due to this ban. Unjust enforcement practices are not unheard of, and radar detectors can keep safe motorists from being exploited by abusive speed traps. Likewise, the ban has a negative impact on Virginia’s business community. Electronic distributors lose business to neighboring states and Virginia misses out on valuable sales tax revenue.

Radar detector bans do not work. Research and experience show that radar detector bans do not result in lower accident rates, improved speed-limit compliance or reduce auto insurance expenditures.
• The Virginia radar detector ban is difficult and expensive to enforce. The Virginia ban diverts precious law enforcement resources from more important duties.
• Radar detectors are legal in the rest of the nation, in all 49 other states. In fact, the first state to test a radar detector ban, Connecticut, repealed the law – it ruled the law was ineffective and unfair. It is time for our Virginia to join the rest of the nation.
• It has never been shown that radar detectors cause accidents or even encourage motorists to drive faster than they would otherwise. The Yankelovich – Clancy – Shulman Radar Detector Study conducted in 1987, showed that radar detector users drove an average of 34% further between accidents (233,933 miles versus 174,554 miles) than non radar detector users. The study also showed that they have much higher seat belt use compliance. If drivers with radar detectors have fewer accidents, it follows that they have reduced insurance costs – it is counterproductive to ban radar detectors.
• In a similar study performed in Great Britain by MORI in 2001 the summary reports that “Users (of radar detectors) appear to travel 50% further between accidents than non-users. In this survey the users interviewed traveling on average 217,353 miles between accidents compared to 143,401 miles between accidents of those non-users randomly drawn from the general public.” The MORI study also reported “Three quarters agree, perhaps unsurprisingly, that since purchasing a radar detector they have become more conscious about keeping to the speed limit…” and “Three in five detector users claim to have become a safer driver since purchasing a detector.”
• Modern radar detectors play a significant role in preventing accidents and laying the technology foundation for the Safety Warning System® (SWS). Radar detectors with SWS alert motorists to oncoming emergency vehicles, potential road hazards, and unusual traffic conditions. There are more than 10 million radar detectors with SWS in use nationwide. The federal government has earmarked $2.1 million for further study of the SWS over a three-year period of time. The U.S. Department of Transportation is administering grants to state and local governments to purchase the SWS system and study its effectiveness (for example, in the form of SWS transmitters for school buses and emergency vehicles). The drivers of Virginia deserve the right to the important safety benefits that SWS delivers.

Please sign this petition and help repeal this ban and give drivers in Virginia the freedom to use their property legally:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/repeal-the-virginia-radar-detector-ban

Good luck, give ‘em hell.

Being dishonest and a complete liar do not bother such ones at all simply because a corrupt conscience is at work. The innocent citizen is almost always at a disadvantage. There is not much one can do to right the wrong of a POLICE OFFICER. The only way I can see something being done is if the Powers-That-Be of the Police Department organize plain clothes officers specially selected from outside the area of the ‘speed testing stretch’ to take up the gauntlet.

I hope someone with some official say would initiate such an appropriate move in the hope to get rid of those police officers who make a bad name for the others in the force.

Not only did the cop’s radar reading verify that your speedometer and cruise-control were in fine working order, he ignored (purposefully, perhaps) the laughably obvious fact that HE would necessarily have to exceed 50mph to catch-up to a vehicle traveling 50mph as it passed his relative stationary position. In other words, the distance between two vehicles traveling in the same direction at the same speed would never change (basic relativity) — his assumption that you would not realize this is rather insulting lol. Ultimately, the officer’s charge that you exceeded the speed-limit was erroneously based on his flawed reasoning that he accurately gauged/ascertained your velocity by comparing the speed his cruiser reached while pursuing and closing the distance between your vehicle and his own.

While viewing the videos, I recognized your desire to be diplomatic precluded you from mentioning the above facts (I imagine you didn’t wish the cop to perceive you as a contentious “trouble-maker,“ nor did you wish to him feel..er..well..ignorant), but preservation of his ego aside, it seems like the cop’s flawed logic, aka the rationale on which he justified the charge, was the veritable 400lb gorilla in the room, painfully obvious to all, yet the thing no one will mention.

Lastly, the officer’s statement (after verifying that your speedometer worked fine) that his charge was predicated on the presumed accuracy of his speedometer was nothing but a patronizing red-herring — his error had nothing to do with a faulty speedometer lol.

Good Job standing up for yourself.