Radar Detectors

Nope.

1). Traffic volume determines travel speed.
2). Lowest risk travel is to maintain vehicle separation distance.
3). Total stopping distance is the space-determinant.

Several hundred feet.

The roads are filled with the congenitally-stupid. Believe a traffic wreck at 75-mph no worse than one at 40-mph for the bumper-to-bumper distances maintained.

Ever heard the phrase:

Can’t fix stupid (?)

That’s “you” (whomever) when surrounded by other vehicles. Ahead, athwart & astern.

Anything goes wrong, you’re f'ed.

I’ve been crossing the country since the 1960s. Up into the late 1990s, traffic volume was reasonably low once outside of a major metro area (75-miles from city center).

Then we saw pack formation that morphed into the norm. Smart phones after 2007 allowed the born-stupid to travel by car (can’t read a map on a dare).

Now it’s round-the-clock car traffic far, far from metro areas

Who is paying them? As you won’t find a reasonable explanation for their presence in the middle of the work day.

The days of fast travel by car disappeared. Same for enjoyment. Ask any of the brain-dead to describe what’s around them. Trees, grasses, crops; other physical features. Ha!

“Oh, oh, I am in a hurry”. It’s cartoon-land with every stereotype confirmed.

The cops do nothing. Left lane travel on the Interstate is forbidden (except to make a pass) and the cretins think they have right of way in so doing.

It’s illegal to block the left lane. Period.

Kinda funny to watch them as I start to come over on top of them when I reach that 350’ barrier from the next vehicle ahead of me.

Overtaking isn’t passing. A slower vehicle out ahead undertaking a pass confers no right to tail-gate (under 100’) or to enter, much less crowd the left lane.

More simply said, the health of the road is the free-flowing travel lane.
Left lane traffic doesn’t exist.

No one knows how to enter the road anymore, either. Too slow and too close.

500’ ahead of a big truck down the get-on ramp? Is barely acceptable, legally (the other driver cannot be forced to slow, much less brake).

“How to Travel” isn’t about the highest speed. It’s about understanding average mph versus traffic volume. (Clock time versus odometer miles).

Running 73? You won’t average 65.

It isn’t the point, anyway. On a trip of 300-miles or less there’s no time savings running the top limit (given that you actually could).

I spend my days on a maximum amount of cruise-control which means staying below the flow to remain alone.

The cretins travel in packs. Can’t do it otherwise as they’re born incapable of the visuo-spatial skills necessary to travel above 40-mph. The stress keeps them in a near-panic their whole trip.

Ever watched a flock of birds maneuver instantly? Same forces at work in them AND YOU unless you prevent it. (Feelings overridden).

And you thought it was your country.
Ha!

The game has now shifted to average mph.

1). Highest possible is outside the window the morons pack the roads

2). Control of stops and their location (advance planning) is the time-saver. Know EVERY stop in advance. No changes.

OP, you may not have wished to have heard all the above, and it’s only skins the surface.

The best trip is the one forgotten right as it ends.

It’s an emergency-room truth that, to live a long life, one may smoke, drink, and eat anything desired.

But do not get gun-shot or be in a high speed wreck.

Avoid those and the rest is easy. Literally.

There’s no replay. Done is done.

Would you (whomever) give beer and automatic weapons to 13-yr olds?

That’s the equivalent of staying in proximity of who’s on the road.

Stay out of the bad part of town? Then why run to catch up to and be amongst them once on the highway?

Only stupid people get speeding tickets. Not bright enough to adapt to the conditions around them.

A). The roads are packed 1100-2300. (Leave early and stop early for the day)

B). Control your day
(Plan fuel stop in advance. Break every two hours for 15’ using a rest area. Zero use of C-stores. Bring your own).

C). While en-route, slow to get others around you fastest. Stay alone

D). Big trucks will crowd you running 65-66. Cars will crowd you above that.

Unless on a near-deserted road (or three lane rural Interstate) running 64-mph is king.

E). Use of mirrors to manage traffic around is new for most. W

Definition of best trip? (The Test)

— No lane changes

— No use of brakes

— No use of throttle.

— No surprises

A radar detector would be a waste of money. Useless.

Separate yourself mentally, physically and spiritually.

CB RADIO

Use while underway.

Many complaints it’s too quiet. If you want to rev it up on AM-19:

Crank up the Big Radio: Galaxy audio, and a sense of playground fun.

1). Note all mile markers for cops, construction and wrecks in BOTH directions.

2). Heavy rain? Where does it start and end?

3). Are scale houses opened or closed?

4). Anything else you can think of. Just one guy can get others to pick up the mike because he’s reporting what he’s observed.

— I regularly cuss out bad drivers. Announce to all & sundry: Truck firm, direction of travel, mile marker, offense committed, etc.

I may not do it all day, but it can be fun where others join in. “Hey what’s the 20 on that MF driver”.

— Opens the door to what you need to know. The Midwest is FULL of local and regional drivers. Who know conditions, etc.

They trump a gizmo on the dash.

Sigint, or Humint?

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Break the trip into legs. Execute each. Day takes care of self.

www.roadfood.com

To pick great eateries. A solid 1.5-hr break mid-day.

Otherwise, don't exceed 500 miles in a day.
400, a better choice. How to Travel is a skill-set.

Fresh & ready following day, takes discipline and a plan.

Fatigue is vibrationally-induced and no one escapes white-line Fever past 400-miles.


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Hello Mudfoot: I liked slowmover's input. But the Radar Detector can help saving one from a speeding ticket "SOMETIMES" not always. Some police use them and some police do not. Some police use a laser system which is better I am told. But I know there also laser detectors, again sometimes helping out.

The Radar Detector were a success due to the fact that its easier to detect the police radar then it is for the police to detect you. The Radar signal has to travel from the radar gun to your car that's a one way radar signal very easy to detect. The returning radar signal has to bounce off the car and come back to the radar gun, not always easy to do, and the radar signal has to now travel to your car, and back to the radar gun making two trips. So once the radar detector sounds off I am doing the speed limit. Many times the radar signal bounces around corners and such giving one a slight advantage.

I am sure it saved my a few times of chatting with the local law.

Jay in the Great Mojave Desert.... "Next Gas 150 Miles"

Jay Mojave said:

Hello Mudfoot: I liked slowmover's input. But the Radar Detector can help saving one from a speeding ticket "SOMETIMES" not always. Some police use them and some police do not. Some police use a laser system which is better I am told. But I know there also laser detectors, again sometimes helping out.

The Radar Detector were a success due to the fact that its easier to detect the police radar then it is for the police to detect you. The Radar signal has to travel from the radar gun to your car that's a one way radar signal very easy to detect. The returning radar signal has to bounce off the car and come back to the radar gun, not always easy to do, and the radar signal has to now travel to your car, and back to the radar gun making two trips. So once the radar detector sounds off I am doing the speed limit. Many times the radar signal bounces around corners and such giving one a slight advantage.

I am sure it saved my a few times of chatting with the local law.

Jay in the Great Mojave Desert.... "Next Gas 150 Miles"

Click to expand...

Not disagreeing, but adding depth.

West of Big Muddy with a car capable of high speed cruise (Hemi Charger; not pickup or SUV) I’d give it a maybe.

Nowhere in Ohio (any Midwestern state) can one “super-cruise” for any appreciable distance.

What’s missing from the American Road: Co-operation.

If there’s one feature made travel a pleasure it was that drivers (American men, not women and colored children) kept an eye peeled. Made room. Passes on two lane highways were coordinated. From both directions.

The days of high-compression big blocks are sadly gone. With them, the peak of travel at high average speed. There was no substitute on the two lanes for that torque.

That disquisition above was outline. The skill level is today so degraded for natives (what TV & Divorce hath wrought), and then millions too incompetent to operate above 40-mph that one level down is to understand that THEY DON’T pay any attention to what’s coming up from behind.

And haven’t the skills or training to do anything except hit the brakes.

In 10-12,000 miles/month, there’s not a week goes by I don’t see multi-car crashes. Too close for conditions. Always. Everywhere. Everyone. No exceptions.

Attendant to that is that some WILL swerve to avoid. No awareness of what’s about to fill that spot. That’s another predictable outcome.

Had I anytime to bet with I could double my weekly income.

Sigint worsens the SNR.

Success is in using The Clock.
Ignoring the Odometer.

Traffic Flow is a DAILY inescapable problem. It appears, peaks, tapers.
Lemmings. Virtually no difference Coast to Coast (except areas of high minority demographic).

I don’t need to see the driver to be able to tell you race & sex. Pattern-recognition is vital as big trucks are so unstable. Those combinations function as markers. KNOWING what they’ll do (mainly, as a group)

Conditions (bad driving) have been deteriorating for decades now. If one proposed that radio frequency is being used as brainwave manipulation, I’d concur. The RATE of degradation is also increasing. Not a five year set of markers, but down to six months.

Trying to get out ahead will mean one will CONSTANTLY have sucker fish attached.

In the years of the double-nickle, skill could get one along. Never appearing to speed. Can’t do that with a-wipes attached.

An Escort was just that. A helper, at best. Marginal utility (most drivers relied on them, which shows what one NEEDS to know). Most states shut down the speed traps. That severed the cost-benefit ratio.

Want to get there early?
Leave earlier.

The cruise control set speed isn’t a Top Five planning tool any more.

If it’s a full day on the Interstate, add an hour. Figure Average MPH will will be 60. (Please) Never allow vehicle-spacing to degrade.

Away from metro areas (see and copy USA MegaRegions map) one can move up until 1100. But not after.

Were I on the road from Columbus, OH to Fort Worth, TX, there’s an alternative in using the Western Kentucky Parkway thru to Dyersburg, TN to avoid heavier traffic. A pretty ride. Few services. Preparation matters.

But I’m fucked all the way from near Cincinnati, OH, and through Louisville, KY. Only thing works is to take IH Loop around far eastern Cincy, and the outer 264 Loop around Louisville.

Those, with avoiding Nashville and Memphis reduce stress despite they add miles. Fatigue was ALWAYS the enemy. Slow cars were WORK to maintain an average.

Today’s cars are better. But the drivers, worse.

Be self-contained. Use rest areas. Watch the clock at stops. Mandatory stops at two hours to shake off the dust.

Fatigue arrives eventually. The point is to set that farther back into the day.

It’s easy to run stupid. It’s hard to run under discipline. But the latter means I’ll be out ahead of the new guy before day three is half thru. He’s worn down.

And not ready for the trap the stupids have for him just out ahead.

So, a second test to go with the one in the first post:

In 100k miles annually, I’ll have to really nail the brakes HARD once or twice. You?

Here’s another take, then:

Brakes on my pickup last far over 100k miles. Same for tires. 50/50 City/Country. Clutch original at 240k. 9,000-lb pickup. Etc.

The other guy doesn’t get there faster enough to matter.

My fuel consumption plus lifetime average mph on the Cummins is better than what those engineers calculated. Most diesel pickup owners wear out the engine well before design parameter. Too much idle time, too much fuel burned per mile. Go thru tires like ass paper. I’ve had two sets in a quarter million. Never come close to the margin of wear.

It’s an emotional problem. Kick the 16-yr old out of the drivers seat.


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Final note: observe pack behavior. Hang back and let it dissipate. Always does. Then make the pass with no one else around.

Packs form and dissipate. A rhythm.

Leaving a small town from a stoplight on a state four lane?. Those dumb butts will take 30-miles to separate. Stay back. Same with speed limit changes upward anywhere.

Step back mentally. Predict. Test predictions. THAT is how one moves along at best rate of speed.

Mastery is knowing. Lowest fuel consumption, too.

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here in my area they use laser,,, and i figured out if your laser detector goes off they have you,, so it is up to them if they chase you are not,,if you are speeding,,,;

I use a R1 and saved me many tickets from the CHP... Gives you pleanty of advanced warning to slow down whiles the cheaper one dont

dave457 said:

I use a R1 and saved me many tickets from the CHP... Gives you pleanty of advanced warning to slow down whiles the cheaper one dont

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I’ll use this as example (not the one posting it):

Advance warning? Except those situations at Interstate speeds where another is less than 300’ behind you, right? Can’t.

You wouldn’t spot a cop and think it okay to jump into the 600’ space ahead of me, either, right?

And, I’ll bet that passing the trucks before a construction zone is okay also?

Space is the fundamental.

All other vehicles. Not ONLY the guy ahead of me. Who’s probably too close to the next guy. Have to factor for ALL vehicles.

A detector is an excuse to continue being 16. Screw others.

Only way to make the case is to show the numbers. Average MPH has barely a thing to do with desired speed.

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In Poland and several EU countries there is Android application called Yanosik and stand-alone device GTR.
Via cellular network, based on users input it warns about static and mobile speedtraps, car accidents, road maintenance etc.
I use it since 250 000 km, no tickets. Works perfect.

Mike

Waze and apps like it have made the radar detector obsolete imo. Not to mention if your detector is detecting radar chances are youre already seen. I haven't used one since the late 80's to be honest. I cant remember the last ticket I received. The last time I was pulled over was for expired tabs and licence and that was 11 years ago.
Oh and what Slowmover is saying
https://www.waze.com/apps

Tokin said:

Waze and apps like it have made the radar detector obsolete imo.

Click to expand...

My wife uses waze. I just drive slow. I don’t think I’ve been over 50 mph in the year 2020.

She does do a good job alerting me to traffic issues with her waze app however.