What's the current situation with radar detectors?

See the radar detector items posted up to 2005. Look back

We understand there was an attempt to prosecute a driver in the UK for using a radar detector under the Wireless Telegraphy Acts, but we believe it was successfully appealed in the higher courts.

France bans GPS speed camera alerts. More





Posted: 140727
A V8 member has asked "what is the current situation with radar speed detectors in the UK?". Legislation was brought in with the Road Safety Act 2006 and the relevant section covering radar detectors is s.18 but it has not yet been commenced. Most of the Act does not do so until there is a commencement order and the most recent order concerns
s.13. Earlier orders are listed on the legislation.gov.uk website which does not include s.18. Therefore it is not yet in force and perhaps never will be.

Back in 2003 a radar detector mounted on the windscreen was easily seen as an unusual feature on UK roads but today so much clutter is attached to the windscreen - suction pad mobile phone holders, satnavs and more - so having a radar detector will appear to be yet another mobile device on the windscreen these days. Hopefully detecting drivers using handheld mobile phones is likely to be seen as far more likely to reduce accidents but not as easy or as lucrative as speed detection with radar and other devices!

While radar speed camera detectors may still be legal at home, the position is different abroad where many countries have laws in place banning the carrying or use of these devices. In France for example French laws prohibit drivers from carrying devices capable of detecting speed cameras and those laws have been extended to include devices able to warn or inform of the location of speed cameras - for example satnav or GPS systems capable of showing speed camera sites as points of interest on the screen. Those extended measures came in from January 2012.
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