Everything you need to know about police radar, laser and speed cameras in Western Australia

 

 

 

1) What are the different types of police radar / laser & speed cameras used in WA?

a) What is the respective the tolerance / accuracy of each device?

 

b) What are the guidelines for use of this equipment?

 

c) How do these devices make mistakes?

i) Moving Radar errors and mistakes

 

ii) Laser (LIDAR) errors and mistakes

 

iii) Speed camera errors and mistakes

2) What products offer the best protection against these types of police radar / laser / cameras?

a) What are the laws governing the use of radar / laser detectors?

 

b) Can the police determine if you are using a radar detector?

3) What are the penalties / demerit points and speeding fines for WA?

a) If I know I wasn't speeding, how can I challenge / beat a speeding fine

4) What are the road fatality statistics for Western Australia?

 

5) Summary for police radar, laser and speed cameras in Western Australia

 

 

What Radar / Laser speed measuring devices are used in WA?

 

Firstly, it needs to be explained that there are four different RADAR bands (frequencies) used throughout the world plus LASER (which is completely different to radar).

 

The four radar bands include:

 

X-Band (10.275GHz up to 10.775GHz) - not used anywhere in Australia

K-Band (24.050GHz up to 24.250GHz)

Ka-Band (33.400GHz up to 36.000GHz)

Ku-Band (13.175GHz to 13.675GHz) - not used anywhere in Australia

 

Radar (short for radio and ranging) works by transmitting a pulse of electromagnetic (EM) energy, also referred to as RF energy at a moving object.  Using the Doppler principle the radar gun ‘listens’ to the change in pitch of the radio waves as they reflect off the moving vehicle and thus determines the speed.  Similarly, when a train blows its whistle as it passes you – you can hear the change in pitch of the whistle, as the train moves past. 

The radar beam starts out as a small diameter pulse when it leaves the radar gun, but grows quite rapidly as the distance increases from the gun.  At a distance of 300 metres, the radar beam is now 100 metres tall and 200 metres wide! If 6 cars were simultaneously hit by a radar beam (six vehicles driving down the freeway), 6 pulses would come back to the radar gun, and the radar gun would detect (and report the speed of) the largest signal of the 6 signals present.  To overcome this shortfall, the latest radar units with Digital Signal Processing (DSP) can identify the strongest and the fastest targets to try and help the police officer identify which vehicle's speed is being displayed on the radar gun.

Because the radar beam is so large when traveling down the road, a radar detector can be located almost anywhere in or on the vehicle, and it will detect the radar signal.  Radar will penetrate glass, plastic, even people, but is reflected by metal and metallic objects.  Radio waves will only travel in a straight line, so you are relying on reflections of other objects to give you advanced warning if you do not have a line of sight with the radar gun.

Traffic radar uses a radar beam to measure speed. Think of the beam as a searchlight. It’s invisible because it’s made of microwaves instead of light, but otherwise it acts very much like a light beam. It travels in straight lines. It’s easily reflected. It scatters as it is passed through dust and moisture in the air. And — this is essential — it has to hit your car before it can determine your speed. Radar can’t see around corners or through hills. It can’t see you when you are behind another vehicle. When in the clear, how strongly your vehicle reflects determines at what distance the radar can detect your speed. Generally, larger vehicles reflect more strongly than smaller vehicles. Trucks are more “visible” at further distances than cars. The principle on which radar operates is absolutely reliable. Radar equipment, on the other hand, is only as good as the quality of its design and manufacture. Traffic radars tend to be unreliable. They’re cheaply made and therefore vulnerable to many interferences that cause false readings. And, compared to the military and weather radar which have rotating antennas, traffic radars are vastly simplified. This simplification means that traffic radar cannot tell one car from another. The operator has to do that, and since the operator can’t see an invisible beam any better than you can, he frequently doesn’t know which vehicle’s speed is being read. This is a source of many undeserved tickets.

As a defense against radar detectors, many police radar units can be operated in the Instant-on mode, also called the Pulse mode. This means the radar is in position, but it is not transmitting a beam. So it cannot be detected. When the target is within range, the radar operator switches on the beam and the radar calculates the speed, usually in less than a second. This calculation happens too quickly for the target (you) to respond in time.  Still, you can defend against Instant-on by recognizing it when the operator zaps traffic ahead of you.

As well as radar, there is also LASER (also known as LIDAR, - LIght Detection And Ranging), which operates at a frequency of 904nm ± 33MHz. A police laser (LIDAR) gun emits a highly focused beam of invisible light, in the near infrared region of light, at 904nm of wavelength, with the beam being around 50cm in diameter at a distance of 300m from the laser gun. Unlike RADAR which determines a vehicle's speed by measuring its Doppler shift, police laser (lidar) calculates speed by observing the changing amount of time is takes to "see" reflected pulses of light over a discreet amount of time.

Because the laser beam's diameter is so narrow, if a laser gun is aimed at the license plate, the beam is so small, that most times, none of the laser signal would actually “spill over” up to the windshield, where your detector is mounted.  Thus, a radar detector with laser detector mounted on the windscreen would not even detect the laser beam targeted on the license plate (or headlights or bumper for that matter). This means the beam of a laser gun is accurate enough to target a single vehicle out of, let’s say, six vehicles driving down the freeway. The laser gun can target and detect that single vehicle in less than ½ second after the trigger is pulled, while the surrounding vehicles would not detect the laser beam as it passed right beside their vehicle! 

Other than radar and laser, there are other ways of calculating a vehicle's speed being:

• Vascar - This is not a radar or laser, system; rather it is a glorified stopwatch that relies on the policeman's honesty and accuracy. They are mounted in the police car and are often used when following the target. When the target car goes past a landmark (usually a white marking across the road), the timer is started and when the car goes past the second landmark, the timer is stopped. It is hooked up to the patrol car's speedometer to give a target speed reading. It relies on the button being pushed at the right time and the pacing distance to be long enough to overcome any timing errors. The only countermeasure is careful observation, or a GPS unit if it's a regularly used Vascar area.

• Piezo-electric strips - pressure-sensitive strips embedded in the roadway (a set distance apart if speed is to be measured - typically 1-3 metres).

• Inductive Loops - embedded in the roadway detect the presence of vehicles, and with two loops a set distance apart vehicle speed can be measured.

• Arial Speed checks (similar to Vascar)

None of these four are used in Western Australia, other than red light cameras, which use the sensors built into the road.

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In Western Australia, the police use the following speed measurement devices:

Hand-held radar:

The hand-held "Falcon" radar gun manufactured by Kustom Signals Inc and operates on K-band at 24.150GHz.  This unit is not as widely used as previously, since the introduction of laser hand-held guns.  You may find these in use in rural areas, more so than the city, and they are used by Multanova operators to check the calibration of their cameras (against the Falcon radar gun). WA has 31 of these in service

Dash Mounted radar (aka moving radar) set up in police cars:

The KR10-SP again manufactured by Kustom Signals Inc in the USA was the first dash mounted K-band radars used in WA police cars.  The KR10 can be used in stationary and moving mode, and can be used in "instant on" mode or "constant on" mode.  One antenna for front only or two antennas for front / rear can be used.

The newer Golden Eagle by Kustom Signals Inc is the latest dash-mounted radar used by WA police.  Like the earlier KR-10, this K-band radar has "instant on" mode as well as traditional "constant on" and can track vehicles moving in either direction to the patrol car.  WA police have 191 car mounted radars in service (1/4/08)

Hand-held laser (aka lidar):

The first laser gun to be used in Western Australia was the LTI 20-20 Marksman.  Laser operates using light pulses (as opposed to RF or microware energy like radar) and due to the small diameter of the laser beam, is an excellent "pointing tool" for targeting individual cars in heavy traffic.

As per most states in Australia, the older LTI 20-20 Marksman has been replaced with the LTI 20-20 Ultralyte.  There is approximately six different versions of the LTI Ultralyte available, and the exact model for each state is unclear.  It is stated in most literature that it is the LTI Ultralyte 100 LR that is used.

WA Police have recently expanded their LIDAR arsenal with the LTI Ultralyte compact.  This device's tell-tale design without the pistol grip is marketed for police departments "who experience budget restraints, yet still want the benefits of laser speed enforcement".  WA police have 290 hand-held lasers in service (1/4/08)

Mobile Speed Cameras:

The Multanova 6F speed camera is the main type of speed camera used in Western Australia, although a red-light camera can also calculate your speed, because it takes two photographs over a known period of time (one second).  Unlike most other Australian states, who use fixed speed cameras, the Multanova 6F is a mobile speed camera, able to be deployed at any location by its operator (usually in a white utility with enclosed rear).  The Multanova 6F speed camera operates at 34.3GHz (Ka-band) and at a small power output of 0.2-0.5mw.  Only the best radar detectors with a "Ka-narrow" setting can give adequate warning.  There are 19 multanovas in service in WA (1/4/08)

View how a Multanova works here

20th April 2007 (source)

New high-tech speed cameras which could see the number of speeding tickets double are being tested on Perth’s streets as police consider several new models that will also allow speeding motorcyclists to be caught for the first time. Police advertised a tender last year for cameras that would finally be able to photograph speeding vehicles from behind in an attempt to put an end to the free ride for motorcycles, which have only rear number plates. But the new cameras, tested on the Mitchell Freeway on Wednesday, could also double the number of cars that are checked because the cameras supplied by one of the leading bidders can detect and photograph vehicles going in both directions. Cameras supplied by German company Vitronic can take speed measurements across four lanes of traffic in both directions using laser technology which is understood to have been developed for military use. It can take digital photographs from the front and the rear, which can then be reproduced on the speeding ticket. While the tender closed in December, police would not comment on the process yesterday and have previously stated they hoped the new cameras would be on the streets by July. They expected the cameras to cost $75,000 each, though it is not known how many will be bought. Figures released by former police minister Michelle Roberts in 2005 showed police estimated more than 18,000 speeding motorcyclists were photographed by speed cameras each year. The tickets were all written off until last year when police introduced a companion system which used a video camera next to speed cameras to capture footage of speeding motorcyclists. State Government plans to force riders to fit front identifiers to their machines have been hampered by researchers who have not been able to come up with a number plate that would suit the many different motorcycle styles.

New speed camera blitz will reap $200m in fines
13th April 2008 source: The West Australian

Dozens of speed traps, including new speed cameras on police cars, 88 extra mobile radars and 24 fixed cameras along Perth’s freeways, would be introduced under a State Government road safety blueprint, reaping an estimated $200 million a year from more than two million fines for WA motorists.

Details of the plan for a massive increase in the number of infringements issued each year, from about 440,000 to more than two million, is contained in a Government-commissioned report likely to form the basis of the State’s new 12-year road safety strategy.

“The expected fine revenue from speeding motorists detected by the recommended speed-enforcement operations, at least in the short term, is estimated to be $204 million per annum,” the 2006 Monash University accident research centre report said.

By comparison, last year WA drivers paid $17 million in speed camera fines.

As well as 24 fixed cameras on freeways, which would generate an estimated 427,356 fines a year, the report also recommended 43 new vehicle mounted cameras and an extra 88 “mobile radar units”.

About 1.1 million fines a year would come from mobile speed cameras and laser detectors on metropolitan roads and 495,000 fines from mobile speed cameras and radar units on rural roads.

“Processing of the estimated 2.043 million speeding tickets per year from the recommended package will require a substantial increase in police personnel as well as about $4 million capital investment in the back office infrastructure to triple its offence processing capacity,” the report said.

The Office of Road Safety said the report, by Professor Max Cameron, was being reviewed and an update prepared before speed enforcement recommendations were included in the 2008-2020 road safety strategy.

But Professor Cameron confirmed yesterday that the updated version “won’t be much of a departure from the package”.

It would also include an additional recommendation for point-to-point speed cameras on open roads after the ORS asked him to examine the new technology. “That might mean that some other forms of speed enforcement is not done as much, but probably it won’t be fundamentally different,” he said.

Professor Cameron also confirmed there was still no crash-based evaluation of WA’s Multanova program and that the report was based on the effectiveness of speed cameras in the Eastern States and overseas.

Police confirmed yesterday they had 19 Multanovas in operation, 191 car-mounted radars, 31 hand-held radars used to check Multanova effectiveness and 290 hand-held lasers.

The report said the package would provide an annual saving of $186 million in social costs, with the estimated cost to operate the package less than 10 per cent of the fine income.

Independent MP Dan Sullivan said yesterday that motorists should prepare for a speed enforcement strategy that was based on increasing speed cameras and revenue.

“This report is conclusive proof that the State Government is more interested in using speed cameras to raise revenue rather than reduce the road toll,” he said.

ORS acting executive director Jon Gibson said that the Enhanced Speed Enforcement Steering Committee would use the updated report “together with additional advice and research from Australia and around the world” to form its recommendation to the Government.

Police Minister John Kobelke said he expected to receive a draft road safety strategy for consideration midyear.

The assumption being made here, is that the speed measuring equipment is being used according to the manufacturer's guidelines (see below).

The Falcon hand-held Radar gun is accurate to ± 2km/h as it is used only in a "stationary mode"

 

The Kustom Eagle dash mounted moving radar is accurate to ± 2km/h in stationary mode and ± 3km/h in moving mode

 

The LTI Ultralyte Laser (Lidar) gun is also accurate to ± 2km/h and cannot be operated in moving mode.

 

The Multanova is accurate to ± 3km/h up to 100km/h then ± 3% at speeds over 100km/h.  It's has three power settings which are :

• "Near" which gives a detection range of approx 7 meters (single lane roads)

• "Means" which gives a range of 15 meters (used for dual lane roads)

• "Far" which gives a detection range of approx 40 meters (multi-lane roads)

The power output used by these three settings is 0.2mw to 0.5mw

What are the guidelines for use of this equipment?

Contrary to what the government or police would have you believe, the accuracy of these "speed measuring devices" can be somewhat doubtful, particularly if the manufacturer's guidelines for use are not strictly followed.  Police officers, and mobile speed camera operators are trained in the proper use of these devices, but that isn't to say these guidelines are always followed.  It is estimated that 10% of all LIDAR infringements are incorrect and up to 30% of all moving radar speed readings are also incorrect!

The Australian standards AS 2898.2-2003:

"Radar speed detection - Operational procedures" - can be purchased HERE

The Australian standards AS 4691.2-2003:

"Laser-based speed detection devices - Operational procedures"

- can be purchased HERE

Guidelines for the use of Multanova speed cameras (source)

• Image Speed Measurement Devices are not to be operated at the base of any steep incline unless otherwise directed or authorised by the Assistant Commissioner, Traffic and Operations Support (or his delegate)

• Image Speed Measurement Devices are not to be placed within 100 metres of the approach or departure side of a change of speed zone unless otherwise directed by the Assistant Commissioner, Traffic and Operations Support (or his delegate).

• The speed camera tolerance in Western Australia is set ridiculously low. The Assistant Commissioner of Traffic believes that drivers should only be given 3 km/h tolerance which is the in built error factor in the Multanova speed camera.

• Speed cameras should not be placed in the vacinity of a traffic sign, metal fence or objects moving in the background such as trains, that can reflect radar signals and give false readings.

• Speed cameras that use side angle projection of the radar beam (Multanova), must be setup parallel to the traffic flow. Why? Because of the "Cosine Error Factor" which will cause the speed reading to be inaccurate - Either reading too high or too low, depending on how far off parallel the camera is pointing. This is why all speed cameras shouldn't be setup on curved roads, only straight roads. (An interesting point to clarify - "How is a camera setup parallel to the road? From some video footage seen of a speed camera setup, its done by "thumb" (rough enough is good enough!). So much for accuracy!

• Speed cameras must be tested before and after setup. (Only to show if there is a gross error with the device.) All speed cameras must be certified every 12 months as being accurate. ( The question arises -"Is every 12 months good enough after roughly 3 - 4 setups per day in WA for example?" That's roughly after every 1500 x 2 = 3000 pickup and drops in the back of a car!)

What does all this mean? It means that there are requirements for the correct placement and setup of speed camera devices such as the Multanova and Gatso speed cameras - rules that must be followed for setup, placement and testing! But are they?  Most Australians support speed enforcement, and reduced road fatalities.  The negative sentiment arises when innocent people know a speed camera / radar or laser has made a mistake, and what's worse, is the government and police will do anything to cover up these shortfalls.  Thus it can cost thousands of dollars to prove you were in fact innocent. 

Prime example:

Vanessa Bridges was booked by a speed camera in Victoria for doing 158km/h in her Datsun.  The trouble was, her Datsun was tested immediately afterwards and was found to have a top speed of 117km/h

Faced with this evidence, the police still did not retract the fine!

"We're not dropping the fine at all", and I even ended up receiving a letter in the mail saying that, "Oh, yes, the letter of rejection has been accepted and your court date will be advised shortly."

So, it was very stressful and I was basically treated like a criminal, and it was horrible - absolutely horrible"

How do Police Radar, Laser & Speed Cameras make mistakes?

Speed Laser (Lidar) mistakes

Police LIDAR can also make errors if not operated according to the manufacturer's guidelines.

1. Stationary - Laser cannot be used in moving mode, they must be used whilst stationary.  Similar to radar, laser cannot be used in the rain, snow, or high dust environments.

2. Interference - If for any reasons intended signal returns are interrupted, it may not be able to determine target velocity. Bright lights (such as Halogens) beaming directly into a laser aperture may desensitize or entirely masks target's echoes. The brighter and closer the light source the greater the chance of interference.

3. Cosine Error - Is the angle from 0* perpendicular to the target vehicle. The greater the cosine angle the greater the error. However, cosine error is always in favor of the motorist, one of the speed readings will be will be proportionally less than the actual speed of the target vehicle.

4. Sweep Error (also known as pan or slip error) - Is manifested when the laser is aimed at one part of the vehicle, say the license plate, and due to the motion of the operator, the laser also targets a side mirror during the same trigger pull. Sweep Error adds to the real speed of the target vehicle. See videos below.

5. Reflection Error - On very hot days with low humidity a visible mirage/reflection of the target vehicle is created. In many cases, when the laser is aimed at the target vehicle the infrared beam also receives readings from both the target vehicle and the mirage causing a Sweep Error.

6. Overexposure Error - When a laser gun receives an extremely powerful reflective signal, such as a sun flare off a vehicle, the computer's timer can't see return of the 904 nanometer signal it sent. It can't compute a speed reading. In general, the laser gun is looking for the strongest return reflection of its own emitted beam for speed computation.

LTI 20-20 exposed as unreliable (source)

Daily Mail, 15th October 2005.

Experts and two investigations by the BBC's Inside Out program and The Daily Mail have revealed that the police's favourite speed gun, the LTI 20-20, is flawed and can produce incorrect and unreliable speed readings. The device is used in some 3500 speed traps around the UK, but motorists have been prosecuted for speeding when they're adamant that they weren't over the limit. However, the main expert witness called by the CPS to defend the equipment in court is the boss of the UK importer, Frank Garratt, a former police officer and now a millionaire.

In tests the speed gun recorded a wall speeding at 44mph. (Yes, a brick wall, that's not a misprint) Other tests showed a bicycle doing 66mph and a parked car doing 22mph. The Daily Mail reports that even when the camera is set up following the police's own guidelines and the manufacturer's handbook some of the readings were wildly off the mark.

The newspaper wrote "The Mail can expose the scandal of a speed enforcement industry in which the collection of fines is considered paramount - whatever the consequences for innocent drivers caught in police traps by faulty readings." Lawyers told the paper that motorists are now rebelling by refusing to pay fines and fighting their cases through the courts. One solicitor, Barry Culshaw from Southampton, is representing 15 clients who all claim to have been a victim of faulty LTI 20-20 readings.

Another discovery, writes The Daily Mail, is that vital video film, often taken as secondary evidence, is often mysteriously withheld from accused motorists by the CPS. On at least 10 occasions the CPS has suddenly dropped the case against a motorist when ordered by a judge to hand over the revealing footage. 

Dr Michael Clark is Europe's leading expert on laser technology and a former directory of a company making laser detection equipment for traffic lights and car parks. He's also a fierce critic of the speed gun and has acted as an expert witness on behalf of many motorists since he defended himself after being caught for alleged speeding.

Dr Clark says the gun is defective because its wide beam can easily pick up the wrong vehicle and if not held firmly on the target (which is a difficult task itself) it can produce an erroneous speed result because of "slippage".

Reflections from road signs and from other cars, even stationary ones, can also make the laser device misinterpret the true speed of the vehicle. The LTI 20-20 works by sending out a beam to measure the distance of the target from the officer operating it and also how long it takes for the beam to reflect off the target and bounce back. The operator looks through the sights and sees a red dot which he aims onto the target and presses a trigger. Critically the beam must be held firmly at the same point on the moving vehicle. But if slippage occurs and the beam moves up, down, or along the vehicle the gun will measure an inaccurate reading.

In tests in the USA, it was shown that if the beam slips from the windscreen of a car down to its grille on the bonnet it can add 8mph onto the vehicle's measured speed. If it slips along the length of the car - which is possible when a vehicle comes around a corner into the speed gun's sights - a whopping 30mph can be added on to the reading.

The BBC's experiments with the LTI 20-20 were dismissed by both the UK importers and ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers) saying it was impossible for the gun to make any errors and that the BBC used an American version of the gun which they claim has less reliable software.

However, that claim was been rejected by the Daily Mail who obtained a UK version of the gun - a LTI 20-20 Ultralyte certified by Tele-Traffic, the UK importers based in Warwick.

Dr Clark points out during the experiments that the gun uses a multi-mode laser which uses 3 beams, not one. Over a long distance the beams widen so if it's targeted onto one vehicle it can unintentionally hit another vehicle nearby by mistake. Dr Clark said "A policeman can't tell from 400 meters away - or even at a longer distance in many cases - exactly which car he is marking." To demonstrate his point they parked a car at the side of the road and drove a white van past it at just 3mph. The laser gun was pointed at the car from 371 meters away which, according to the handbook, is easily within its capabilities.

As soon as the van drove past the parked car the laser gun picked up the moving van. It was impossible to target just the parked car along and as a result the car was recorded as travelling at 3mph, even though it was really stationary. The experiment was repeated with the van doing 26mph and the gun clocked the parked car at 26mph.

Another problem is reflection from other vehicles. They pointed the gun at a different parked car and slowly drove the white van past. It recorded the parked car doing 22mph. Dr Clark explains "The beam sometimes catches the reflection of a nearby car. It zig-zags to this car before carrying on to the target vehicle and returns by the same route."

In their final experiment they pointed the gun at a brick wall with no moving vehicles in the area. They moved the beam along the wall instead of keeping it perfectly still on a single point to create the slippage effect. The gun was confused and showed a speed of 44mph. Dr Clark said "This shows how a traffic officer can mistakenly pick up a reading from a wall by the side of a motorway or even an empty road if he doesn't target a vehicle properly. Of course there's no record to prove if an officer had targeting the vehicle properly or not. Assumption of accuracy is always taken for granted even if the officer had unwittingly made a mistake.

ACPO state that the gun shouldn't be used at distances more than 500 meters, but Dr Clark says that it's being used in some cases at double that distance.

Despite the recent media interest in these issue the shortcomings of the gun was discovered nearly a decade ago in 1996 in the US state of New Jersey. The state temporarily banned the gun after a court witnessed someone targeting the gun on a wall of the courtroom and it measured 4mph. The lawyer, Joe Maccarone, defending a motorist accused of speeding called on an expert from NASA. The expert said that at just over 300 metres there was only a 60% chance of a human operator hitting a 12 foot wide target with a laser gun. Cars are only 6 foot wide so the chances of hitting something other than the target are very high indeed.

Hand-held laser mistakes videos

If you have been given a ticket from a laser gun when you were positive you weren't doing the alleged speed, then

YOU MUST WATCH THIS VIDEO!

Part Two

This video also shows how "reflection" can also create errors in speed readings, as well as the slip error as featured in the first video

A pop-up window will appear so please make sure your pop-up blocker doesn't prevent it from opening and playing in a new window.

Speed camera mistakes:

Once again the police and the government would like to have us believe in their "utmost confidence in the accuracy of speed cameras".  Of course they would, as a proven fault could cost them millions of dollars in repaid fines (like what happened in Victoria) and a loss of revenue.  But how accurate are the Western Australian Multanova 6F speed cameras?

"As the police officer was not in a position to estimate accurately the speed of the vehicle with the naked eye and did not take meaningful notes, his evidence, apart from the evidence from the Multanova , was not sufficient to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the motor vehicle owned by the defendant was speeding on the date in question.

Multinova readings are admissible if the surroundings reveal that the evidence is both accurate and enjoys circumstantial guarantees of trustworthiness. The circumstantial guarantees of trustworthiness were not supplied by the police officer's visual observations. The onus was on the crown to prove that the Multanova was capable of accurately measuring the speed of the defendant's vehicle, while it is not necessary for the Crown to establish through expert evidence how the particular speed detection device works scientifically, there must be relevant and appropriate evidence on the record from which the court can conclude that the device was functioning properly at the time of the alleged offence. The tests performed on the instrument to ensure its accuracy must be approved tests and these tests must satisfy the trier of fact that the instrument is capable of accurately measuring speed. Something other than simply turning the instrument on and relying on it to test itself is required. The fact (assuming that such a fact was established) that the "self-test" performed in this case is all that is required by the manufacturer does not mean that the test is an "approved test". The "self-test" was insufficient to satisfy the required circumstantial guarantees of trustworthiness." (source)

What is the best defence against each of these speed measuring devices??

So what happens when you are driving down the road, sitting on 80km/h (according to your speedometer) in an 80km/h stretch of road, but you cop a speeding fine?

 

We will analyze each WA speed measuring device and discuss the products available:

 

Hand-held radar:

The "Falcon" hand held radar gun (made in the USA) operates on K-band.  The police officer points the "gun" towards the approaching vehicle and squeezes the trigger.  In this "instant on" mode you have little warning if you're the only car on the road.  The ideal situation for early warning is if a motorist in front of you is targeted first, and the radar beam travels past his car, it is detected by your radar.  Most detectors (cheap included) will detect the K-band radar at long range.

 

 

Dash Mounted radar:

The dash mounted Golden Eagle by Kustom Signals is similar to the hand-held radar above, operating on K-band.  When the police officer is driving down the road "shooting" at on-coming traffic he is doing it in two ways; "constant on" or "instant on".  In constant on, the radar beam is constantly transmitting down the road.  When an oncoming car enters the radar's beam, a reflected signal is returned to the gun, and a speed is displayed on the unit.  Again, any decent radar detector will give advanced warning in this scenario.

 

In "instant on" the radar unit is powered on, but not transmitting.  When the approaching vehicle is within range, the radar gun is then switched on (transmitting) and the target vehicle's speed is displayed within a second.  "Instant on" radar can be deadly, especially, if you're the only car on the road.  For this reason it pays to keep a "rabbit" in front of you so he or she is targeted first and you can detect the police radar in advance.

 

What about a radar jammer?

Some people have queried the possibility of a radar jammer. Your most important question in purchasing a so-called radar jammer should be "does it work?"
 
You may have seen them advertised on other websites and some magazines: the passive radar/laser jammers (also known as radar scramblers).  Some passive jammers are Phantom, Phantom II, Phaser or Phazar, the Phantom III and The Black Widow.

Passive radar Jammers DO NOT WORK!  These "jammers" are usually manufactured by a company called Rocky Mountain Radar (RMR). We have tested many of their units and we have yet to find one that works as advertised.

Know what to avoid before you purchase such a passive jammer, consider reading the "Jamming Testing Report" by Radar Roy first to find out why we do not sell and/or recommend them.

Active Radar Jammers - Not Much Improvement! You may have also heard of the active radar jammers with the name of Phantom RCD XP or The Scorpion. These do work to a limited degree.

Active radar jammers like those named above, only jam X, K with any success and have difficulty jamming Instant on radar.  Their effectiveness against Ka radar is even less, especially at close range.  Read a test report on active radar jammers here.

 

Hand-held laser (lidar):

Laser guns are another "deadly" device in that they can calculate your speed in less than a second.  Although most radar detectors include a laser sensor, they usually offer little more than a "ticket notifier" when they go off.  Having said that, there ARE circumstances where a laser (detector) can and has, provided adequate warning...

 

although these are few and far times in between.  Click on the video to the left (allow pop-ups) to watch just how quickly a police laser gun acquires vehicle's speeds.

So what is the best defenses against laser?  Well, as far as a detector goes, the best at detecting laser is the Valentine One.  Granted we just finished convincing you a detector is useless against laser, but the Valentine One, will give you the best chance of detecting "off-axis" laser from the car in front of you being targeted.  For proof that the Valentine is the best unit at detecting laser, you can read Bob's (The Veilguy) Laser Detector test:

"That being stated, these results suggest that, especially in close-range laser encounters, the Valentine 1 is the top performing laser detector, by a wide-margin, followed by the Escort 8500 X50 and more closely, the STi Driver, and the Beltronics RX65 Pro.."

But as aforementioned, just detecting the laser won't be enough.  The most cost effective solution is with the use of Veil anti-laser paint.  Veil will give you additional seconds warning time when used in conjunction with a good laser detector.  You can read more about Veil in our laser jammers section.

 

The best defense against laser is by the use of an active laser jammer.  Unlike most active radar jammers, active laser jammers do work.  An active laser jammer will prevent a speed being displayed for a brief time whilst you adjust your speed if necessary.  The best laser jammers for the Australian model LTI Ultralyte according to the Guys Of Lidar 2007 test are the Laser Interceptor and the Blinder.  You need to look at the results for the Ultralyte 100pps as these are the laser guns used in Australia.  The Laser Pro Park finished fifth in the test against these laser guns.

 

Multanova Speed Cameras:

The Multanova 6F speed camera operates on Ka-band at 34.3GHz at such a low power level, you require a VERY GOOD detector to achieve any advanced warning, especially when the radar is pointed at the rear of traffic, taking your photo after you have driven past.  The best radar detectors for Multanova speed cameras are ones that either through their fixed or user-adjustable programming, can specifically look for the Multanova's 34.3GHz signal of the Multanova.  This is referred to as "Ka-narrow band" or "Ka-narrow sweep".  Instead of scanning the entire Ka-band of 33.400GHz to 36.000GHz (a range of 2600MHz or 2.6GHz) the detectors with "Ka-narrow" scan a much lower range of around 200MHz.

 

Think of it like your car's FM radio. If you started at the very bottom of the FM band range, its about 88FM and the top is something like 106FM. Let's say you wanted to pick up an intermittent radio station at 96.1FM

If your radio had to always scan from 88FM all the way up to 106FM when the only station you could possibly pick up was 96.1FM then you see the wasted time in scanning the whole FM band (think Ka-band) for that one signal.

Now lets say you had a FM radio that you could program to only scan from 95.9 to 96.3 FM. Obviously it would detect a 96.1FM signal a LOT faster than one that was scanning the entire range (think Ka super wide band) .

Keeping with this analogy, Australia has a FM radio "band allowance" of 88FM up to 106FM. But lets say USA has an FM allocation of 82FM to 115FM. And if we bought a car radio from the USA and the only intermittent radio station we could detect was 96.1FM, and by design the radio had to scan the entire band, you can see why detectors made for the USA do not perform so well against Multanovas in Western Australia (or anywhere else)

So if we can program our detector to only scan small slices of the Ka-band range, we dramatically improve the sensitivity on low powered, weak signals like the Multanova.

 

This is similar to how the "Ka-narrow" setting works on radar detectors, such as the Bel 990i, the Bel 975r, Bel 966r, Bel (Target) Euro 550, Euro 330 and the Valentine One.  Popular radar detectors such as the Bel RX65, Bel STi (Bel XR) and Bel XR950 do not have this "Ka-narrow" programming therefore do not perform as well against the Multanova cameras as those detectors that do.  This is why we struggle to see how the so-called "Aus tuned" Beltronics detectors sold in Australia really are tuned for our conditions!

 

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How does each radar detector perform detecting WA radars, lasers & cameras?

 

BTST Detector
Bel RX55
Bel RX65
Bel RX75