Know your road...
http://speedtrap.org

I found a place that has the blinder M20 for $312, that's a pretty good deal if you ask me. That's a ticket or almost a ticket. Would pay for itself almost right away.

I hadn't realized that they often have to hit you a couple of times to get a good shot. That must be why I got hit three times the other day leaving school. I pulled out of the school, got hit, drove another 25 yards, got hit again, stopped at a light, started driving and then got hit again. About 1/8 mile down the road I saw a sheriff in an SUV on the side of the road firing out of his side window.

Interesting discussion and I must agree I like the follow idea which I will try to do more of. My last ticket was coming down a hill about 15 months ago so I am trying to play it more safe for the next 5 or 6 months.
With more daylight, these guys are everywhere which takes the fun out of driving. The majority of people commuting the back roads to work are going at a speed safe for road conditions but it is above the speed limit and they know this and are targeting everyone. The only place I can open it up anymore is the toll-road and that is barely above 80. The track bug will probably hit me in the next couple of years.

I have no front plate and I still got hit. I think that is an urban legend.

Likewise for the color. My car is a very dark blue, often mistaken for black. Again, probably an urban myth.

And it is easy to target a vehicle and get a lock. When I tried it, I held up the gun, looked at a car and pulled the trigger. I got a valid speed reading in a second or two. No bracing my arms, no training, nothing. It was point and shoot, even simpler than a camera.

Kang what kind of car?

An Blinder M-20 is in my near future.

The laser beam is extremely narrow and usually aimed at your license plate or headlights, so your detector may not even see it, and if it does, you've probably been painted. The only way to defeat it is with a jammer, or "shifter" as Escort calls it. They have sensor/transmitters that you place next to your license plates that instantly jam the radar as soon as it's detected. Since this is illegal in many states, you should slow down, then turn off the jammer so the LEO can read your speed without suspecting he was jammed.

It's a B.S. game that's all about money. That little excerpt from the C.V.C. about speed traps is quite interesting. I'm pretty certain I'm going to win my ticket defense based on that or a number of other reasons (waiting for lawyer to call back to discuss).

Funny thing is I actually wouldn't have minded paying the fine so much since I got bagged obviously exceeding the speed limit. I'd have been perfectly content to pay up, do the traffic school and go on with my life. . . But oh-no. Mr. Hardass CHP guy has to write it up for 77 in a 45 which makes you ineligible for traffic school and facing the prospect of a point on the license and heightened insurance rates. Eff that. I'd rather pay a lawyer (who's actually going to work for the money) than a do-nothing insurance company that's charging criminal rates to begin with (insert comment about illegal aliens here).

I can't wait to beat this. I won't give the friggin' insurance companies the satisfaction of it - even if it does cost a little bit more. . .

And I'm buying a V1 first chance I can once this is all over.

I know the V1 is preferred by most, and rightly so as it provides directional as well as multiple source information. But Escort offers some integrated alternatives that include laser shifting. The ZR3 can be added to an existing Passport 8500, for example.

http://www.passportsr1.com/

What proof do you have that he targeted your car, the word of the officer? My nature is to be extremely skeptical. Do they have to show you the laser gun and your speed on it? If they refuse because one officer targeted you and the other is ticketing you, again the intent to trap a driver was there. This is a speed trap plain and simple, forget the definition in the vehicle code. What if they clear the gun to go after someone else before you see it.

In CA there is a legal definition of a speed trap. Its not what you may think and does not prevent cops from laying in wait for all the speeders that they can ticket. It has to do with the posted speed and if the road was surveyed or not. A survey is used to set speed limits. A road with a speed limit that has not been surveyed is considered a speed trap. Exact details of this law is somewhere in the CA ve code. Some limits, like the 65mph are never speed traps. Bigger problem. Even if you are correct, the ticket is a result of a speed trap, the local judge is "in on the take" so good luck.

Yea I read that. . . I'm still going to forward all this crap. I seriously doubt this road has a traffic survey done on it, particularly within the last 5 years. . .

snowman's a bit right, but not entirely. A speedtrap is defined as when the progress of a vehicle (your car) is timed (by a stopwatch) between two points of known distance. Think of the timing traps at Bonneville. Then your speed is calculated from the distance/time relationship. Speed trap (in the public vernacular) is a totally different concept (i.e. bunch of cops frequently laying in hiding in the same spot, waiting for speeders).

Here's another thing I came across on a moto list I frequent:
http://www.radarbusters.com/support/speedlabs-2006/default.asp

edit: So in Cali, speedtraps (of the Bonneville style) are indeed illegal. Hence, the practice of CHP flying overhead on I-5 and timing your progress based on the large white milemarkers painted on the side of the road is illegal.

Noah, thanks for the link. I'd never seen this site before. Though I takes some findings with a grain of salt since "radar roy" sells Bell, I found a lot of intersting info.