False Radar

imouttahere · 05-11-2013, 07:38 AM

Not sure where to post this but I'll try here first. We were stopped by a radar police unit that said we were doing 72 mph. We have a Ford 550 with a 38' Mobile Suites. We came over the top of a hill and started down the other side. The speedometer registered 58 at the top as we started down. I braked to reduce the speed to the 55 mph speed limit. I noticed the cop down at the bottom of the hill. I kept the speedometer pegged at 55 the whole way down the hill. As we passed the cop he lit up the lights & pulled us over. Said we were doing 72 at the top of the hill and slowed down to 69. Imagine how frustrating it is when you know you were doing the limit & get pulled over. We confirmed afterwards with a gps unit that traveling at 55 mph we were actually doing 55.

A few miles down the road, there was some construction and they had one of those mobile radar units that light up & tell you what your speed is. As we approached at 53 mph, it flashed 55 & immediately changed to 72 mph & stayed at that speed indication as we passed it. Again we checked the gps & it also indicated we were doing 53.

The question I have is what the heck is causing the false radar indications? I have no radar detector and the only other thing I can think of is the tire pressure monitor that is wireless. We also have two iphones.

Something is causing the radar to indicate that we are doing about 14 to 15 mph faster than we really are. I can't keep getting a ticket at every radar trap in the country. HELP MR. WIZARD

Army Guy · 05-18-2013, 08:39 PM

Sorry to hear about your news but I would also love to know what you find out. I'm pulling with a F550 also and haven't had that issue with the radar readings. I also have the pressure pro tire monitors.

BTW - where were you when you were pulled over? Just so I know to stay away from that area.

**wingnut60** · 05-19-2013, 09:44 AM

Interesting situation--if you were somehow generating false radar return signals (and I doubt this could be happening) you should be getting stopped more often by radar patrols. The mobile units have often shown me to be going faster than I am--perhaps it is the large frontal area we have--but I don't have any problems with cops.
Can't explain the gps verification of your speed, if in fact you are speeding.
I think: 1) you got caught one time by a false hit/bad cop or you would be
getting stopped everytime you go by a radar unit--wouldn't be
the first time that has happened to anyone.
2) one time thru a mobile, unmanned radar gun doesn't mean
anything.
3) there is nothing in your rig that would be generating a radar-
band signal. iphones/tire monitors--no
Costly mistake, and you are correct to be worried if in fact you somehow are going faster than you think, but if you were, you would have a large collection of safe-driving awards...
Joe

Deb 2500 · 10-01-2016, 02:02 AM

My husband had an issue with this with his little commuter car. He was flustered and frustrated with it also. He had a ticket or two and a warning or two, so something on his little car was triggering a higher radar reading. He finally took off his front license plate and re-secured it. Sure enough no more tickets or warnings. He thinks that the license plate was vibrating because they wouldn't bother him if he was approaching them from passenger side, but nailed him every time from the driver's side. So my advice is to check your front end for a lose license plate frame or anything else that can cause a vibration.

GlennWest · 10-09-2016, 06:16 PM

My gps records my avg and fastest speed. Beat a ticket with mine also. Cop then informs me I was the largest vehicle and the radar will generally tag the larger vehicle and read someone else. There was several of us and they were mostly speeding. Everyone passing me.