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 In fact, the first state to test a radar detector ban, Connecticut, repealed the law – it ruled the law was ineffective and unfair.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

second ticket was while driving west in emporia, 78 in a 60.
no way i was going that fast.
i had my radar detector on and on the floor.
the detector did not go off at all.
got swallowed up and spit out by a pack of fast moving traffic.
i did not see him anywhere near the highway.

zeroed in on me right away.
i suspect he had a radar detector detector.
then made up the speed just shy of the reckless driving limit.

told me to give him the radar detector.
i gave it to him.
i had read stories about police foot stomping detectors in va.
i knew that he could not destroy or take my detector without a hearing.
he then gave it back, plus a 40 dollar ticket for having detector, and a 160 ticket for the speed.
did not contest, since it is 500 mile round trip to my home state of delaware, where i am now living again.

i admire what you have done, it is hard to take a ticket when you know they are lying.
i have always kept a camera in my glove box while living in the “masshole” state. (for all the people who run into you)

i like your idea about the video audio recorder.
almost as good as DNA.
hard to dispute documentary evidence.

watch out for the speed traps at the delaware beaches, oc maryland etc. just do the limit or you are caught. 24/7.

ron

They violated his constitutional rights and lied to cover up the story. The video you see was taken from a cell phone. I hope these animals who did this to him pay with their freedoms and can never ever ever again become cops. There’s already one suspended and criminals federal and state charges are pending as well as against the other cops. A shame truly.

If this could happen to a law-abiding college student who did not break the law, it can happen to anyone and if no one recorded the incident the judge would have given the sob cops who beat him the case.

http://www.nypost.com/video?vxSiteId=fe3e21a8-49f1-4cec-9ba5-cfe372fa6572&vxChannel=PostUsFeed&vxClipId=1458_911099&vxBitrate=700

I’d love it if the above site were to be checked out. This is a site I just made to prevent cop abuse and this fits right in. Thanks! (Yeah posted in wrong place earlier haha)

The prosecutor may have limited her exposure by dropping your charges, but she still has the dilemma of all her prosecutions and fines collected for violations outside the Lacrosse PD jurisdiction. As she is a member of the bar, I am not sure she has the discretion to ignore the town’s fradulent revenues.

An then, if Lacrosse keeps this up, there is always the possibility the State troopers might set up in SH from time to time to ticket the Lacrosse PD when they are speeding outside their jurisdiction without due cause, e.g. witnessing someone allegedly speeding outside their town and that might, but has not yet sped within their jurisdiction.