Fess up, Lug. Wouldn't your foot ease up on gas when your radar detector beeps or blinks? I've never learned how to use the radar detector properly? (FYI: I was involved in a programming project of a speed-sensing radar system made for cop cars.)

And why would I need a radar detector....? Much less to learn one! I am already driving fast enough.

Those morons zooming in and out of lanes in their Mustangs are speeding only momentarily with the help of a radar detector. Travelling the same trip, their overall time taken is longer than mine.....ALWAYS!

You want to race me...? And not get caught?

 

No. It blinks and beeps way before I have to slow down. It gets my attention at the first beep. We're talking about being in traffic when it goes off. The cop is "shooting" the 10th or 15th car ahead of me.

We're talking about the driver defeating the cop's attempt to determine his speed with radar gun. That's not what you were programming and testing. You were perfecting the radar gun. Doing that doesn't teach you what to do in traffic with a radar detector to avoid getting a ticket.

That's cool. I'm not saying your method is bad and you should stop using it. If it works, go with it. I don't care. However, it sounds a little stressful to me--being tensed up and ever vigilant and on your toes. What do you do when you see a car parked in the median from afar? Fess up. Do you slow down? I'm just saying you never learned how to use a detector. You don't stomp on the brakes every time it goes off and the less you spend, the more false signals you get.

I'm sure you're right. I can't dispute your claim because I've never been with you when a Mustang was trying to go faster than you but couldn't. In fact, I won't even try.

Racing me won't prove whether or not you've learned to use a radar detector. But, hey. It sounds like fun.

 

Just one other quick point.

After some time, you get a "feel" for the different beep patterns. You begin to be able to sense the difference between a false signal and a cop. Beep tempo, strength, and direction are clues. The true radar signals are unique and almost urgent in comparison to false signals. Weaker false signals frequently come from the side and stronger radar gun signals usually come from the front or rear. It's kind of a Zen thing. You have to learn it. It doesn't come in the box.

But, alas. I got nailed by a cop when I was the only car on the road. Came roaring around a corner in a canyon and got popped by a cop who turned the radar on just when he saw me. You're kinda defenseless whan that happens. You might be thinking I should have known better than to go around a corner like that. But I used your method. I'd driven that road a bazillion times and there was never a radar setup there. Traffic volume on that stretch of road just didn't warrant it. Fooled me. The cop probably just stopped there to have his morning coffee and doughnut.

 

that's a lot of quote thingies you had to do, lug! aren't u tired?

i wouldn't waste that much time to argue with me. hehe.

 

Good comeback.

 

Speed limits are set artificially low to compensate for the very low driving skills of the average motorist in this country. They also do not reflect the considerable improvements that have been made to vehicle dynamics and tires over the last decade or two. Most posted speed limits on our highways were established years ago for what we now call vintage cars (marginal brakes, poor steering and generally poor vehicle dynamics compounded by the fact that the motoring public still hasn't learned any real driving skills). Why bother when we are sold survivability and not taught avoidance. Hell, your driving a car that crashes with five stars and has airbags that will save your butt. If you stay within what is referred to as the 89th percentile (the speed that 89 percent of the drivers are driving on a given portion of highway) you will most likely be invisible. Exceptions always apply and are proportional to your smoothness. I drive my Cobra (not a Mustang ) in a sometimes "spirited" fashion but never to or over my skill levels and never when there is the danger of attracting attention or endangering others. I have found that the police wave rather than write as I drive by. Keep right, keep courteous, pay attention (89th percentile) and leave early if you have a deadline. If you do, a radar detector is redundant. Boy that rant felt good
RB

 

I disagree with your thesis. When the Interstates were built, the national speed limit was set at 70 MPH. Everyone cruised at 80-90 MPH. Although the limits have slowly crept back up to 70 MPH in many states, the reason they were initially set lower is because of the various gasoline crises of the second half of the 20th century. The national speed limit was set at 55 MPH to save gasoline, not to save lives, as the corny government feelgood saying goes.

I do agree, however, that today's cars can travel at higher speeds safer than yesterdays clunkers. The initial 70 MPH limit was designed into the Interstates for those old cars. The older brakes were fine because you only needed them once in awhile for gradual stops, and the roads were smooth enough for older suspensions and for landing military airplanes on them.

With proper road repairs and diligent maintenence, the Interstate speed limits could be raised for modern cars without many problems. Don't forget that some Montana roads just a few years ago didn't have a speed limit for a time. They do now. What about the older cars? I guess we'd have three speed limit signs? One for modern cars, one for big trucks, and another for older cars.

 

Hi Lugnut,
Point well taken on the older interstate speed limits but perhaps the thesis still holds true on our rural roads? Must have been a senior moment for me on the interstate portion of the post. Don't know if it's universal or true, but in CT, speed limit signs with yellow backgrounds are suggested maximum speeds and signs with white backgrounds are absolute maximum limit signs. I sent the same question off to the NMA (National Motorist Association of which I am a life member) but they haven't gotten back to me yet.
Anyone want to chime in? Unfortunately many people around here still think that the "big red signs" mean stoptional. When my daughter got her licence I sent her to the Skip Barber School for High Performance driving at Lime Rock. She hasn't balled up any of her or my cars and remains ticket free. Wish more people spent the time and money on their kids. As an aside, no one in our family has ever been called a slow poke Thanks for the chat.
RB

 

Suffice it to say, I'd rather bomb down an Interstate in my BelAir than manuever a two-lane country road at high speeds with blind drives, potholes, and remnants of road repairs. I like taking it on country drives, but more leisurely ones. If I'm in the SL or C5, however, all bets are off. I go a'bombing regardless. So, yes, I agree about the rural roads.

BTW, I feel the need to say that I don't think and I wasn't trying to say that Americans are good drivers as a whole. I think they are ruder than they are good. Being rude at 70 MPH with two tons plus under your butt can be very dangerous.

 

OK, I'll bite. What year BelAir and which engine?
RB