Quote:
Originally posted by 84porsche
Speed traps are prohibited in CA law so isn't an officer waiting with a laser gun targeting cars in a particular zone and his partner awaits his call and tickets the driver, a speed trap?
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I got ticketed this way one time, with laser. I used the words “speed trap” to the officer, and he said no, they call it “saturated enforcement.” I said that sounds like different words for the same thing. I wonder what a judge would have said. Perhaps we have traffic lawyer on board that can tell us what the legal definitions are.
This ticket was before I got my V1, so I don’t know if it would have given me any warning. There were two motorcycle cops in a pullout, shooting up the road. I might have gotten lucky when they targeted another car, by picking up some scatter, but I doubt it.
The cop was friendly. He actually let me try the laser gun! When you look through its view finder, you see a small target in the center. When I used it on a car that was maybe 100 feet away, the target was about two feet in diameter, maybe even less. Unless your V1 gets some reflection off your hood or something, which is unlikely, you won’t even know you’ve been hit until you see the red lights in your mirror. And even if your V1 signals you, it’s too late. To use the gun, you look through the view finder until you have the target placed over the car you want to check. Then you pull the trigger. The speed is shown in the view finder immediately. If they are targeting you, there is no possible way you can slow down. Your only hope is that you can get a reflection off a car being targeted ahead of you and slow down before it’s your turn. Of course, this is the case with radar as well, but radar beams are much larger than laser beams, and they reflect around quite a bit more as well, so you have a fighting chance.
I have yet to have a confirmed positive laser warning from my V1, and I know they use it in my area. I've seen cops with guns and never got either a laser or radar warning. I get confirmed positives with radar all the time. It goes off and I can spot the cop and radar gun. I’ve had numerous false signals from laser, mostly from brake lights ahead of me. I’d like to know if anyone thinks they got a laser reflection off another car. If you are being targeted, it’s too late. I have never heard of a case where someone got a laser warning off another car and had time to slow down before it was their turn to get targeted.