Buzz Blaber

I have just gone to buy road angel [black spot locator £399] and the rep was in the shop at the same time he informed me that they are trying to make them ilegal can anybody shed some light

i dont want to waste £400 on some thing that will give me hasle!

Scooby-Mark

From what I understand it is laser detectors that they are trying to make ilegal, but that leaves the Road Angel II in a strange position because it has a built in one, don't think the actual unit will become ilegal but the laser detector part may become ilegal

Just tell the coppers ithe laser detector is turned off

Mark

MidLifeCrisisII

Its true but will probably never work and is being contested. Also I think you get your cash (or some of it back) if you buy one now and then they make it illegal. But hey, I'd still use one legal or not.

The govenment want their cake and eat it. The laughingly called safety cameras (generally placed on fast dual carriage way, statistically our safest roads) are allegedly placed in accident blackspots. Therefore your road angel would tell you that you are about to enter an accident blackspot. Ergo your road angel is a safety device, so you slow down.

Hell I could rant for ever, you get the picture.....

scoobydooooo

they are going to outlaw the radar detector , but the gps based system will still be legal !!

HURRELLY

http://www.ukspeedtraps.co.uk/jamlaw.htm

6 pot

Does it really matter, because having any form of speed detector, GPS / Laser or whatever is almost an admission that you have been speeding or are prepared to speed at some point. so the leagal issues surrounding the detector are really not worth worrying about.

I have a road angel 2 and whatever the law states, it will be sitiing in its rightfull place, smack bang in the middle of the dash.

Up the revolution

scoobydooooo

having a car that does
more than 70 mph is an admission of intent !!

Andy_1271

does anyone own a car that does less than 70 flat out???

scoobydooooo

so we are all intent on braking the law

Buzz Blaber

yes i know what you are saying but near end of last year i was traveling to my sisters. i was on a duel carridge way where their had been road works so the speed limit had been reduced and there was a mobile camra there. 3 weeks later went to see her the road had been reopened for the weekend speed restiction signs laying down and got flashed at 50mph didnt know what to do or think.

waggy doo

iTrader: (1)

Have a word with Steve ( Lancaster )
He has just brought one.

6 pot

Oh Yes

Rokay

Only takes a moments lapse in concentration and hey you have 3 points and a fine.

Got a Origin b2 in my car. Chuffed with it. For those on the M25 traveling the road works stretch they have just upted the speed limit from 40mph to 50 mph (between M3 and A30 jct) Have they upted the Gatso limit to trigger at 50 mph.

Nope

Still set at 40mph trigger.

Had it not been for my b2 i would have been none the wiser and would have had to argue the toss later on.

Grrrr

scoobydooooo

this was on radar detectors.co.uk
January 2005 Update

At the moment the government are debating making radar detectors illegal, something they have been considering since 1998 when they were proved not to be illegal under the 1949 Wireless & Telegraph Communications Act. It has taken 6 years for them to get around to discussing it in the House of Commons as part of an up and coming Road Safety Bill, and providing it passes all readings in the various Houses, and assuming that a general election does not get in the way, then it may become law later this year.

We understand that this proposal is aimed at radar detectors and laser jammers, not GPS based units. The difference is that the GPS devices are a collection of data already in the public domain. They want people to know where the cameras are, which is why they are painted yellow and locations are published on police and local council websites for all to see. The cameras are at designated dangerous sites, and this is what the GPS devices alert you to. It is the fact that radar detectors can tell you whether some cameras are active or not that is the difference the Government wants to outlaw.

At the moment these products are legal to sell, buy, own and use. Any change to this situation is currently just speculation and no specifics have been confirmed or date set. There is likely, in any case, to be a time delay - they would not be outlawed immediately, so there would be time for people to make use of their detectors before any ban is implemented. As you may have noticed these types of product are still widely available.

There has been a second reading in the House of Commons but the issue of Radar Detectors, which is just a small part of the Road Safety Bill, was only touched on and there has still been no confirmation of any change in the law as yet. We will keep you updated as and when there is any further news.

messiah

So - The positions of Gatso's is in the public domain which makes using devices to pick them up OK.

On that basis - how can they make laser / radar detector's illegal when they publish where the Scamera Vans are going to be parked up for the next week in the local paper and on the internet?

Also, that statement does not mention Laser detector's - only Radar... (and yes, I know it's not official...)

harvey

iTrader: (48)

Please remember that in our society today, exceeding the speed limit and the subsequent consequences can be far more serious than doing a bit of burglary or assaulting a police officer etc.
Let me know when the revolution is starting and we will get rid of some of this wooly thinking namsy pamsy crap.

SamUK

iTrader: (1)

Buy yourself a OriginB2 Solo...10 times better then the RA... (costs less toooooo)

Simon C

I'm with the revolution too. I own a Snooper S6r Neo, and fully intend on keeping the radar detector active. As its a seperate unit, I can mount it anywhere I want. At the mo its sitting on the bottom valance of my sport just below the number plate, when I get the turbo, I can mount it in the bonnet vent

They have to see it first before they can do anything

Rumplestiltskin!

I had heard that RA2 users would be able to download a software patch that disabled the laser part but kept the GPS. I wont bother though....can't believe that the cops have the time or energy to confiscate any RA2 & test it for laser anyway if they suspect its still being used.

Anyway - all this is great news for RA1 owners, now they will be able to bin that horrible laser attachment blob thing !

R

Scooby-Mark

Might not have a choice if it automaticaly downloads when you connect to get updates

andy97

iTrader: (1)

Hi

buy a Navman icn 510 v3

You can download the locations of all gatso, truvelo, mobile(regular spots) redlight cameras and Temp locations + the added benefit of satnav for £400


Andy

Jza

Never one to be a scinic - but the coppers will let YOU pay to prove it IN COURT..... its never them having to prove anything is it.

As i understand it GPS based ones aren't going to be outlawed - much to the governments dismay for the lost ££££'s.

Buying a system that has both seems a bit daft if they are going to outlaw the radar/laser part. It'll make it useless if you want to be a good boy or girl....

IMHO.... as they are going to move away from using Gatso (too many people know where they are now) and on to "hired help" to zap you..... i see the Jammer as the only way forward.

The chances of getting stopped by Plod is very low now - as they have virtually cut the numbers back to nothing (i think there is only one traffic car in Leicestershire where i live now). The only way to protect your licence would seem to be to jam these damn scumbags sitting over the bridges. They can't chase after you... so you have a better chance of getting away with it.

Jza

edthedoc

And when they update the RA2 perhaps they can stop the sodding thing shouting every time it's turned on.

davedipster

Lads,
I asked the makers of road angel the same question last month...here is the e-mail I got back...
<snip>
This is a question we are being asked a lot at the moment with all the talk about the new proposed bill for parliament.


The reality is that the bill may not get heard in the short term due to higher priorities amongst the 100 or so bills proposed for hearing this Spring. The current activity being poorly documented in the press, is the first phase to decide if the bill will be progressed. If the bill is progressed, the process then starts to debate publicly and privately what they will and won’t ban, which will take around 12 months. Once that is agreed, it takes 6 months to become law, so the Department for transport have confirmed in writing that the earliest any change could take effect is the second half of 2006, if at all.


The primary focus is to ban Laser Jammers, as these units prevent the police getting a speed on your vehicle. This is not part of the Road Angel product. They also intend to ban Radar detectors, which are again very different to the Road Angel product. Radar detectors are proposed for banning as they can determine which cameras are live and which are not, effectively allowing the user to speed through inactive cameras, working against the reason for having the camera installed at that location, “Reducing Speed”. In this scenario, Road Angel will remain unchanged and fully legal in it’s current format as it does not include either of these functions.


Secondly, but less likely, they could ban the use of passive laser detection, which the Road Angel does have, but without going into too much detail, this maybe very complicated to ban. For argument sake, lets assume they ban laser detection. Classic Road Angel (The black unit) will require the laser alert golf ball to be disconnected from the unit, making the Road Angel 100% legal. On the New Road Angel, the laser alert is integrated, but can be disabled on the unit by the owner, without intervention from ourselves. If the customer wants a more permanent fix, we can send a firmware upgrade via e-mail to remove that functionality, again making the unit 100% legal.


GPS Camera locators are not under review in the proposed bill and we have written evidence from the department for transport to that effect as they understand and accept the safety benefits of GPS based safety systems. Products like Road Angel warns of areas of danger advising user to reduce speed and be aware of potential danger, which supports perfectly what safety camera aim to achieve.


I hope this clarifies the position, but either way, the unit will be legal to use in the UK.


Kind regards
<snip>

Dipster

SPEN555

I was gonna post up that people were getting confused between laser jammers and laser detectors. But from post above they are also after banning laser detectors too.

I have Snooper with laser detector and GPS detector. Now if it did not go off and I was going past a laser speed trap there is no way I would be confident in speeding through it as I never know if it has developed a fault or is not working on that occasion properly.

I don't think I can trust any of these electronic devices 100% to the extent I don't trust it enough to speed through any speed detection area.

If anyone relies on it to do that I think you are asking for trouble. The device does keep me alert and gets me to check my speed when I come to the zones it detects and I would have thought that is what the Police would want it to do.

Damian.

Dream Weaver

CB's were illegal in the 70's but my parents still had them

scoobynutta555

I do a suzuki sj413. I've seen over 70 once, on a motorway downhill will a following wind. Flat out and an accurate reading Id say it truely is a 'car' that does less than 70 flat out.

Milamber

iTrader: (2)

Mine has a built in limiter. After 240 miles of driving at 70 the car stops!!!





I then have to put more petrol in.