Thursday, March 17, 2011

Land of the Free?

How many of you have been caught by a speed-trap radar? Almost everybody hates these things, and my principle objection is that ignoring many centuries of legal precedent, these contrivances dispense arbitrary "justice" with no consideration given to conditions, circumstances or mitigation. I recall that my last English ticket was earned owing to an outrageous breach of the law. I was driving on a deserted road one evening, that real tearaway's car, a SII Fulvia Berline and travelling at the highly irresponsible speed of 38 mph. This cost me sixty quid. Ridiculous.

Here in France it is illegal to have any device that detects police radars/lasers. Worse, whilst there are as yet fewer fixed cameras than in the UK, one can often see the Gendarmes with their blasted jumelles (binoculars) trying to earn a few euros for the impoverished republic. They also have unmarked cars with radars or lasers installed.

As I understand it, the law about detectors is a bit vague in Britain (although this might have changed recently) whilst I suppose that jammers are strictly "off the menu.".

Things are different in the USA; here is an article from Jalopnik via Gizmodo all about a RENNtech-developed Mercedes-Benz. Apart from the 580HP and 465lb/ft of torque and appropriate suspension mods etc., the ultimate accessory is a radar/laser detector and jammer. This is built-in - to the rear-view mirror! Wonderful stuff. One of the comments on the article points out that such accessories are illegal in Virginia, but then that still leaves 49 other states to "explore!"

A bientôt