Radar Detectors

How to properly secure and what makes them think the speed limit does not – Posted

July 4th, 2010, 12:53 am @ Radar Detectors Articles

When we stop cross-looking at our vehicle’s speedometer routinely, we could tend to increase our driving speed on the well-kept wide-open roads to our destinations. We could also find ourselves blending in with the speeding traffic surrounding us. That situation speeding can be dangerous if the traffic is heavy, and it can lead to expensive traffic tickets and other adverse effects if caught. Here is a hunker-down self-help way for training ourselves to drive the posted speed limits without thinking about it, particularly in the metropolitan areas where speed limits can suddenly change from place to place.

Several things that cause us to speed.

not allowing enough time to get there
habitually running late to start with
faster vehicles coming up behind us
large vehicles on our tail
driving amongst a faster flow of traffic
sidekick or passenger egging us to go faster
talking with a passenger
daydreaming
singing to ourselves
noise pollution and loud distractions
weather conditions
physical discomfort, like, a headache or other ailment
talking or texting on a cell phone
not paying attention to road signs
loss of concentration while driving
smooth inviting roads
thinking that speeding is safe and okay

However, a couple of $200-plus speeding tickets could cause us wonder how to offset such costs, and maybe how to develop a different driving attitude and mind set.

Do radar detectors help out any here?

That depends. In-vehicle mounted radar detectors will sense radar-guns that are turned-on continuously through certain patrol-manned speed traps, or where partially hidden speed cameras are left on continually. However, most speed traps today do not leave their radar guns turned on for long. These patrols will aim them only at vehicles appearing to be speeding in the first place, just long enough to get a reading for court purposes. After that, they turn them off. The result: no radar signals, no warnings.

Three easy training steps to a cheaper, easier, safer way to drive the speed limits.

1. Memorize the speed limits on our main driving pathways.

All metropolitan areas have varying speed limits between commercial and residential areas, and between differing road types. For example, without lengthy explanation, the main two-to-four-lane thoroughfares with shoulders will have a faster limits (30 to 50-mph) than the narrow two-lane streets (25 to 30-mph). These limits can change from suburb to suburb as well, often on the same streets adjoining them. Thus, we need to memorize the speed limits on our way to work and back, and to and from our main shopping and recreational locations. Also, along this line, we need to know the basic speed limits for differing area types, such as, residential, shopping strips, schools, downtown areas, business, industrial, in-the-country, back-roads, old highways, and Interstates for when we are driving in unfamiliar places. For example, if we drive into a fenced semi-gated residential area where kids might be playing in their front yards, the speed limit will be slow (20 to 25-mph).

2. Realize that speeding does not save much time.

To illustrate, if someone drives a distance of 25-city miles at 45-mph under a limit of 35-mph, the driver only saves 10-minutes if the street lights and other traffic factors were favorable during that time. Conversely, if the traffic lights, stop signs, road-repair work, and the traffic itself were not favorable, the actual driving time will swallow up that 10-minutes savings as if it did not exist in the first place. The same thing is true on the highway. If one drives 120 miles at 75-mph under a 65-mph limit, only 15-minutes are gained if all else is remains constant. Is that time gain worth it if we have a high-speed accident or get ticketed for a moving violation?

3. Learn to know our vehicle speed by feel.

Many cars will do 25-mph without touching the accelerator. We might even have to keep a gentle foot on the brake to maintain that speed on a slight downhill incline. Still, we cannot be watching the speedometer constantly in metropolitan areas where anything can happen suddenly. A dog, cat, wild animal, vehicle, or person can jump in front of us from nowhere at any moment.

Thus, to keep our eyes fixed on the road, we need to know what our driving speed is by intuition or feel. This kind of sense is not hard to cultivate or learn. Many drivers do it that way, accurately. But it takes some training and practice and a self-concentrated effort to learn it.

As this self-training begins, we must make sure we drive all the diversely posted speed limits wherever we drive by constantly checking them against the speedometer. Better yet, we can train at two-to-three mph below these limits. During this time, which could be three-to-ten weeks, we will cross-glance at the speedometer quite a bit. Yet, sometime during this period, our intuition will begin tell us when we might be speeding. For example, if we are driving 30-mph in a mixed residential-shopping area, we will suddenly sense that we might be going too fast. At that precise moment we let up on the accelerator, glance at the speedometer, and look for a posted limit. When that happens, our subconscious feel for the right speed is taking place. When these intuitive warnings happen regularly, our speed sense is working well.

This kind of focused training works for most of us with a little time and effort. Also, we can and should renew or review it occasionally since potential distractions are everywhere. The benefits gotten from this self-training effort are

no more Unnecessary to worry about driving
Fines for speeding
Insurance rate is not increased
Easy to be deceived when
Be clear
Or the speed limit and driving on to the meaning of happiness.

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Radar Detectors

How to properly secure and what makes them think the speed limit does not – Posted

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