I dunno'... I beg to disagree. At least here in Texas.
Lots of local police departments are getting a few laser units, but our state constabulary - the Texas Department of Public Safety, or DPS, as we call them here - have seem to avoid laser altogether. They seem to overwhelming prefer good ol' Ka band radar units, and probably for some of the more obvious reasons...
Laser looks great on paper. Fast, reasonably accurate - i.e. more of a *rifle* approach as opposed to the rather *shotgun* approach of radar - and would, on the surface, seem more difficult to defeat. But in the real world there are lots of downsides, too. Weather is one. Laser is almost useless in rainy or foggy weather... Times when perhaps speed enforcement is more important than any other. And any laser operator has to be stationary, and out of the car, since laser doesn't work correctly through auto glass. No "moving laser" has been invented, at least not yet. That severely limits the LEO's area to operate. He's stuck in one spot, sniping. OTOH, radar operators can be moving, and therefore can scan lots more traffic while at the same time being more readily available for other calls. They can also "blend in" with other traffic, sometimes making them nearly impossible to see. Often times laser requires two officers, and two vehicles... One to operate the laser, often even from a tripod to help aiming, and another for pursuit in the event a perpetrator doesn't just obediently pull over when the laser shooter waves at him. That's usually not a problem in a city environment, but in a state like Texas, with large sections of highway needing to be patrolled by as few of officers and vehicles available, it's a real liability. Laser also has some fundamental issues with certain other environmental conditions, like looking in any way into a direct, low-lying sun... I could go on, but you get the idea.
And laser has another another problem in getting universal acceptance among constabularies... While it is against federal law to try and jam radar, which is why you no longer see any of the wonderful radar jammers that used to be available, it is 100% completely legal to jam laser. And despite the claims of many laser gun manufacturers and constabularies currently available consumer laser jammers are remarkably effective. It doesn't take long to find all sorts of tests showing just how effective they are. Are *good* laser jammers expensive? Yes, which is why you don't see more of them. Are they a bit finicky to set up? Yes, but not nearly as tough as it used to be. Do they need a really, really good (read ***expensive***) radar/laser detector to work effectively? Absolutely, which is another reason why you don't see more of them.
But the lack of those laser jammers out there is another indication of how few laser guns are really out there. While radar detectors are almost ubiquitous, it's rare to see laser jammers. But trust me, if laser guns ever do start proliferating in excess of radar guns, you'll see more and more laser jammers, and the price will come down while their effectiveness will improve exponentially.
But enough about all that...
I had to take a little trip yesterday to see Ed Cook and the boys at AF-1 Racing up in New Braunfels, TX, and during that one 350 mile ride alone my radar detector *saved* me no less than 4 times! One county sheriff using K band, one small town police department LEO using Ka, and two Texas DPS cruisers using Ka. I also had three other *real* alerts, with one an "instant on" Ka encounter with a Texas DPS officer... He would have had me, radar detector or no, as I was the only guy out on that section of 181 at the time, but I saw him well before he pulled the trigger, so that just goes to show you that whether you opt for a radar detector or not you still have to pay attention to avoid citations.
Here's a picture I took of my detector set-up while I was on the ride:
Note how the detector is set to show system voltage, which is a cool, usable feature on the Escort/BEL detector models.
And I passed a small milestone during the ride home from New Braunfels, turning over 39,000 miles on my Super Tenere while still about 50 miles from home:
And I've loved every mile riding it! ::001::
Dallara
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