Doh...Harrison gets tagged big time.

[harrison]

Today whilst cruising my Audi TT 2.0 spyder loaner, I got spotted by polizia air patroll. I had the top up 'cuz it was so dang hot-approaching the Az. border. I KNOW I didn't blast past any Officers. A Chipper (Cal.Hwy Patroll) came on me from miles behind. An aircraft spotted me speeding a little bit. I was written up for 101 mph. in a 70 zone.That means 31 mprh over the limit. 30 and under, and I would not be facing a possible Lic.suspension and NO traffic school... My first speeding ticket in an AUDI. None in the R8 !!!! And a few miles further and I would have been in AZ. DANG. There are no more Photo Enforcement Zones in Az. that I could see. I wonder if radar would have picked up the plane? I NEED a good radar that will pick up air surveillance--FOR SURE. I am afraid to drive.I can't keep my foot out of the throttles. NEED TRACK TIME...I am jonesing some track time right about NOW. After I signed the ticket,the plane flew overhead and did a wing dip wave to the STINK-EYED officer. I was asked why I was in such a hurry...Officer ,I am going to visit my mother who is not feeling too good. I should have lied and said I was speeding to the next rest area to use the restroom.

[hmp10]

You might call the people at Escort and ask about antenna locations that would pick up aircraft. Radar is not highly directional, and a sensitive antenna should pick it up from a plane.

I had an Escort 9500ci installed in my car before driving cross country (well, north/south), and it works extremely well. I was hit by lidar four times on the trip, and the shifting worked every time (twice in Tift County, Georgia, which is a notorious speed trap). Naples is crawling with overhead cameras and sheriff deputies running K and Ka band radar, and the Escort has caught it all . . . so far.

Due to financial pressures, states and localities are getting very aggressive in pushing for every ticketing dollar they can get. For instance, Georgia just passed legislation appending an additional $200 state levy onto all tickets above a certain speed written by local law enforcement agencies. One of the car mags recently ran an article about how out of hand the situation is getting in many parts of the country. Some towns are setting the triggers on overhead cameras so low and catching so many people that they have ceased reporting the infractions to insurance companies in order to quell public backlash.

In this environment, a good radar/lidar detection system is almost a must-have for a car such as the R8.

I understand that some tickets really need to be written. But speed limits are arbitrary and used as much for revenue generation as safety oversight. For instance, a loaded tractor-trailer rig may drive up to the same speeds I am allowed to drive an Audi R8 on most roads, although the Audi has vastly better maneuvering and braking ability and far less mass. If a high-performance car is being driven safely in light traffic conditions above the speed limit, I say use all the detection and avoidance systems you can. If it's being driven in a way to put other traffic down and assert some sort of road dominance, then get it and the driver off the road.

By the way, I was caught in my old R8 in southern Illinois doing 106 in a 65. It was before 6:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning on an almost-empty stretch of rural interstate. I was returning to Chicago from a 3-day round trip down to Georgia to visit an ill aunt (the truth), and the officer cut the ticket back to 94 mph so I would only have to pay a fine. It has never even shown up on my insurance.

I once escaped a ticket on the Taconic Parkway in New York. The officer asked why I was in such a hurry, and I told him I was racing to get out of a clump of traffic because I liked to settle into open stretches of road to drive in peace (again, the truth). He said that was an answer he had never heard, and he told me to slow it down and walked back to his car.

[AnOutsider]

I understand that some tickets really need to be written. But speed limits are arbitrary and used as much for revenue generation as safety oversight. For instance, a loaded tractor-trailer rig may drive up to the same speeds I am allowed to drive an Audi R8 on most roads, although the Audi has vastly better maneuvering and braking ability and far less mass. If a high-performance car is being driven safely in light traffic conditions above the speed limit, I say use all the detection and avoidance systems you can. If it's being driven in a way to put other traffic down and assert some sort of road dominance, then get it and the driver off the road.

too true. As well as the driving fast when in congestion then cruising when no one is around. I noticed when there aren't cars around me driving erratically (slow, fast, moving in the way etc) I drive (cruise) just around the speed limit.

[r1lee]

Since I don't know much about state laws, but if you were a couple of miles from the border, couldn't you have made the run for it? I got pulled over doing 80 in a 65 zone in PA and have I would have k own, the PA border with NY was 1 mile out. When I drove by the cop, I knew it was over. But have I zoomed out on my nav, I would have attempted it.

I'm not promoting running from the law, but when you not a menace on the road, i don't see the problem.

[kmarshall]

Bummer to hear that! Thank goodness for more race tracks being built. Modern cars are too fast to really enjoy on most roads.

In my area, airplanes only use a stopwatch and marks on the road to pace cars. Nothing too fancy but effective. Radar detector can't help ya there. Are they using something different in other areas?

I guess you could get a surplus radar station and have your wife watch the green screen for bogies.

[R84ME]

Sorry to hear that, Harry. I think aircraft still clock you the old fashion way - between hash marks on the pavement. Not sure radar is going to help. I will buy you a couple beers at lunch though!

It's true, all the fixed and mobile DPS radar units are dark now. AZ counties and cities, however, are still installing them like mad.

[AnOutsider]

I wonder if Harry meant radar as in the green screen radar to detect flying objects

[Bodhii]

Wasn't Harry kidnapped once by low flying aliens?

[AnOutsider]

Wasn't Harry kidnapped once by low flying aliens?

That was in an alternate timeline/reality.

[SDR8]

Well, sorry to hear you got caught, but consider how often and at what speeds you drive your R8. You have been very lucky so far. It is just a matter of time. Good luck. Hopefully you do not lose your license. It sounds like it is time to find an attorney that specializes in this type of cases. Better to pay him a little more and get the charges reduced and keep your license.

As stated above, the states are hungry for cash and enforcing more. I have not heard that airplanes use radar yet. I think they still do it the old way, time between marks on the road. You need to keep an eye to the sky, every now and then to make sure there is nothing pacing you. That used to one of my tasks when I was a passenger on some road trips.