RaymondH

I have heard from a friend of a friend whose brother in law's mate's mate is a traffic policeman that placing a CD shiny side up in the middle of your windscreen confuses laser speed guns by reflecting the beam back to them. The traffic guy has just returned from Bruntingthorpe where this was put to the test and it works - they can't find a way round it either. Apparently this is becoming a common practice amongst truckers hence the police becoming aware of it. I did hear this from a good source but is it just another urban myth? Anybody Know?

Squizz

Correct me if I'm wrong, but surely these "guns" require the beam sent back to them to operate??

Sounds highly suspicious to me...

I'll ask my dad, he's plod!

Neil F

I think Raymond probably means that the beam is scattered?
Sounds feasible and costs nothing, so what the hell; I'll give it a go and hopefully I'll never find out that it doesn't work!

Neil.

AlexM

RaymondH,

I can't imagine that this would work because the spread of the beam is minimal - around 6" at 900m. The spot is aimed at the numberplate, so I can't see what benefit having a reflective object on the dash would do. I might be wrong though...

Rgds,

Alex

RaymondH

I think that Neil is probably correct - maybe I should have said that the beam is deflected rather than reflected. Seemingly the gun shows a jumble of numbers instead of the speed and this only works with the CDs because they are so reflective. Or should that be deflective? Anyroad, it breaks up the beam pattern. I think.

chuckster

I agree with Alex, gun is pointed at numberplate, nice and flat, good reflective surface. Still, it's as good a use for the Steps CD's my wife keeps littering the cars with as anything else!
Chuck

Neil F

I've got it.
Lets all make our numberplates out of old CDs!
I bet they'll bugger up Gatso flashes as well!
Err, I'm just being silly now aren't I.......

johnfelstead

Just had a great idea for the westfield.

Anybody out there do plastic chrome plating?

I could have the nose cone and back panel chromed, that should bugger them up. LOL

Scott.T

iTrader: (2)

Would the Speed Gun display then read the 'Number of Tracks' and overall 'Playtime'.

If this reads 74 minutes in a 30 then your nicked....

blubs

As I'm in my wife's car today, would it work if I put a tape cassette on the dashboard?

blubs (en route to the cloakroom as we speak....)

Scott J Davies

Scott T, he he he

John, have your nose chromed and you'll have NASA on to you to find out whether or not there is a UFO travelling at warp 9 in the Manchester area.

Any confirmation on whether this will work or not??

johnfelstead

Chroming my nose sounds a bit painfull to me, i think i will pass on that idea. LOL

Warp factor 9, is that all? (shouts of "i cant give it anymore captain" from the engine room. OK bonnet )

Gethin

As much chance of working as painting your teeth silver ala Jaws !!!!

Gethin.

Chris

This was a gag started by some magazine a while ago to see who would be gullible to believe it... :-)

Looks like the police are in on the gag too! LOL!

I think the laser gun has a little lens on it with a small dot in the middle. they point it at the number plate as its an almost guaranteed vertical surface

Scott J Davies

John
He he

So serioulsy could we foil the ecilop lasers if our number plates were curved?

johnfelstead

Hmmmm, that might explain my clean license, my number plate is stuck on to the nose cone and is almost horizontal.

Top Idea of mine that was!

Aero

From the 'Do police lasers hurt your eyes?' thread, it says that the laser is 1/20th the power of your TV remote control (IR?!?).
Does this mean we can strap a remote to the bumber and flash beeb2 at them to confuse their weaponary?

Neil F

On a slightly different note;
Some may remember the laser jamming device featured in Evo a few months ago (alongside other detectors and things). The police say that they are illegal as they interfere with the transmitted signal. In theory the only way they would know that the thing was fitted would be if they could not obtain a reading.
Now this is the good bit. What if Dodgy Neil's Electronics Inc. make a laser jammer/detector that detects a laser signal, warns you with some sort of fog horn or whatever that you are being zapped, and continues to jam until you have braked down to 72.5mph at which point it switches off the jammer and plod just stand there scratching their helmets (so to speak) saying "could've sworn 'e was doing at least a ton....".
If that isn't a money spinner then my name isn't Dodgy Neil.
Something tells me though that this idea is flawed.....

[This message has been edited by Neil F (edited 12-07-2000).]

Triggaaar

The flat number plate thing

Surely the last thing they want to do is beem their laser at a flat surface - that would return their signal in one direct beem, which is unlikely to be towards them - they need to aim at a curved surface, which will spread the return signal, ensuring they get a reading - which is why stealth bombers are covered with flat surfaces.

Mike Rainbird

Scott T.
I nearly fell off my chair laughing. Bit embarrassing really, as I am in the office....

Got some funny looks.....

Still chuckling now...
LOL
Mike

Bryn

The F-117 Stealth fighter and B-2 Bomber are covered in flat surfaces to create a miniscule IR and Radar signature! About that of a .22 pellet or small bird, nowt to do with reflecting laser!

robski

what about getting your car sprayed in radar absorbing paint as used by the military?

absorbs about 90% of radar energy according to my mates brother who tests it?

dont think DBM is a colour choice tho!

robski

MarkCSC

Funny you should say that Rob as there is a guy in Ipswich I know who uses the stuff (just sprayed all the squady lorries from Colchester)
Colour choice shouldn't be a problem but it would have a very dull finish. Shiney cars reflect more.
Hey this is another excuse not to wash my car

Mark

[This message has been edited by Mark Champion (edited 12-07-2000).]