Radar guns range

Orion

Does anyone know how far the range of the gardai's radar guns are? I was (accidentally) doing just under 40 in a 30 yesterday coming up to a 40 zone. About 100 yards into the 40 zone was a garda with a radar gun.

Just want to figure out if I should expect a letter through the door

impr0v

not sure of the quoted range, but I'd imagine you were well within it at 100 yards. I wouldn't worry about the ticket though, he would usually have stopped you, or you would have seen a flash if he photographed you.

Slaanesh

A friend of mine is a guard and he said that the mounted tripod cameras have radars with a range of up to 3 miles. I think that's a bit much though. But still, don't speed and you won't have to worry !

Orion

Originally posted by Slaanesh
But still, don't speed and you won't have to worry !

I know I know - I don't normally. I was speeding up approaching a higher zone. Surprised to see them there - they're normally at the entrance to a lower zone not a higher. There was a bend just before the 40 zone started so I'm probably safe anyway. Just curious about it.

AdMMM

They're sneaky **** arent they!?

Tommy Vercetti

Originally posted by Macros42
There was a bend just before the 40 zone started so I'm probably safe anyway. Just curious about it.

He was more than likely there to catch people speeding around the bend, you're bunched.

Mac daddy

Originally posted by |.Murderer.|
They're sneaky **** arent they!?

Yep always hiding around corners so when you fly by- they get you

I remember seeing one of them hiding in bushes with the radar sticking out sneaky sh*tes:)

Orion

The worst is their usual spot in Templeogue at the end of the dual-carriageway. You're slowing down from 50 to 30 and they're there in a little side road catching everyone. They get their monthly quota in one day in that spot.

Not that they have a quota of course ... :rolleyes:

Fuseman

I wouldn't worry about it. They have to stop you unless they photograph your car and then you would have seen a flash. There are two types of radars now. The normal one ( Which looks like a hair dryer ) has a range well within 100 Yards.

The other type is a laser gun which is accurate for mile but you have to be visible from a mile away for it to work and in Ireland thats virtually impossible with our roads.

Another factor to consider is that I think cars are clocked 5mph faster than you actual speed. So when you look at your speedometer and see 40 mph you are actually doing 35 mph.

The way I observed this was at some county council roadworks they have these electric signs that tell you what speed you are doing. And if you actually check it you will see its 5mph less than whats on your speedometer.

Don't hold me to this but it was just an observation

Orion

Originally posted by Fuseman
Another factor to consider is that I think cars are clocked 5mph faster than you actual speed. So when you look at your speedometer and see 40 mph you are actually doing 35 mph.

The way I observed this was at some county council roadworks they have these electric signs that tell you what speed you are doing. And if you actually check it you will see its 5mph less than whats on your speedometer.

Don't hold me to this but it was just an observation

There was one of these on the longmile road just before the speed trap. It said I was doing 39 and that's what the speedometer said also. Being honest - if it wasn't for that I may have been going faster. I'd never seen one of these before and it surprised me.

gurramok

Originally posted by Fuseman
I wouldn't worry about it. They have to stop you unless they photograph your car and then you would have seen a flash. There are two types of radars now. The normal one ( Which looks like a hair dryer ) has a range well within 100 Yards.

I was doing about 70-75mph on the safest straight motorway stretch just before Monasterevin from dublin when I seen a garda pointing something from the driver side of the patrol car.

Didnt see a flash though but he did chase and stop a van a few seconds behind me.

Guess its a wait for the letter now.

That day I drove to Cork on secondary roads and not a single garda in sight either on the return journey.
Wonder how many road deaths occur on motorways, not many i guess hence its a scam not to tackle road deaths by targeting the safe roads.

clarkee

The old "hairdryer" guns have a range up to 500 yards, depending on line of site. But the Laser guns(on tripods and the gatso van) have up to 4 miles depending on line of site.
On a happy note the speedo on your car can be an average of 10% less accurate than the guns, so you might get away with it.

BrianD3

The county council speed displays are not necessarily any more accurate than your speedo so therefore cannot be relied on to check the calibration of your speedo. Speedos generally do over-estimate your speed by a few mph but you never know how much of an error there is unless you get the speedo properly calibrated, also two cars which are the exact same make and model may have different errors in the speedo.

In general, the faster you go, the bigger the error. At 30 mph, your speedo may show you as doing 33. At 70 mph it may show you as doing 77. But as I said, you won't know for sure

The other thing is that if you see a speed trap by the side of the road, 99% of the time if they don't stop you there and then, you won't be receiving any letters in the post i.e. you'll get away with it if you were speeding. The exceptions to this are Gatso cameras obviously and laser guns with recording equipment fitted. There's an example of the latter in a recent road safety TV ad where the cops are parked on a motorway bridge recording speeds and regs of the cars below.

Most speed traps are not like that though. Most of them involve a hand held or tripod mounted laser or radar and the cops have to stop you to give you a ticket. The laser guns have a very long range - chances are that by the time you see the trap, it's too late to slow down. Radar has a much shorter range but the cops can be quite ingenious when using radar (hiding behind signs, bus shelters, in bushes etc.) to make up for the lack of range.

BrianD3

Victor

What? They ticket people for speeding now? :rolleyes:

Motorways are not specificly targetted for speed checks, if anything they are under-represented.

Your speedometer will be accurate to within a certain percentage - which may be up or down. The percentage difference will be gratest at slower speeds.

BrianD3

Your speedometer will be accurate to within a certain percentage - which may be up or down

Car magazines often check speedometers for accuracy as part of their road tests. The speedometer reading is invariably a few mph above the true speed. AFAIK, there is some regulatory thing (type approval?) which prevets car manufacturers selling new vehicles with speedometers which underestimate speed.

BrianD3