My Radar Detector Didn’t Go Off
Are you worried that your radar detector is defective because it didn’t go off when you drove by a speed trap? It is the reason after all why you bought it – to alert you of speed traps ahead and avoid a speeding ticket. Well, there are multiple possible reasons why your radar detector failed to give you an alert and they are surprisingly very common! Here, we’ve listed out the three usual causes.
The police’s radar wasn’t turned on
Did you pass by a cop car and expected your radar detector to give an alert, but didn’t? The police officer might not be actively running a radar which means it’s not emitting radar waves which is what your radar detector detects. Remember, radar detectors detect radars but not police cars. So, if no radar signal is detected the officer is likely not checking your speed.
The police officer was using laser (LIDAR)
Another reason your radar detector didn’t go off could be that the police officer was using laser or VASCAR. There are various types of speed enforcement tools that cops use and radar is just the most common. Laser, or LIDAR, focuses on a single object or area (in this case, your vehicle) instead of ‘scanning’ the road. It uses a narrow laser beam like a laser pointer which a radar detector will not detect.
You have a modern radar detector
This one’s actually positive. Do you know those speed signs that flash your speed digitally? Those are called radar signs, which the name states, and emit radar waves when detecting your speed. Older radar detectors without advanced false-alert filtering capabilities usually detect these. Those alerts are typically unnecessary since radar signs are usually used for deterrence and not for identifying speeding offenders. Many modern radar detectors have anti-false alert settings that don’t bother you with these types of radar detection.
