They Tried To Ban Radar Detectors - The Reason Will Shock You!

Ajouté : 2026-05-26

[00:00:01]If you're worried about being fined for speeding on the road, you could try slowing down. Unfortunately, many drivers slow down for cameras and then speed off again after they pass them.

[00:00:11]Things like Google Maps show where speed cameras are located, and drivers can report mobile or handheld traps, alerting everyone else to their presence. In days gone by, however, getting yourself out with a radar detector was the only way of detecting speed cameras. The small, easily concealed devices, which first appeared in the UK in around the late 1960s, believe it or not, leaped a warning when they picked up the signals from certain speed traps. While it was never widely reported, the GO banned these early radar detectors, which could be picked up for around 16 in those days. In theory, the signal was intercepted several seconds before the radar pinpointed the vehicle and calculated its velocity. By the mid1 1990s, around 12% of British motorists used radar detectors, and they were widely reported to be perfectly legal to buy and own, but completely illegal to use. How this came about, though, is really interesting.

[00:01:04]A couple of cases occurred around the home counties and the Wiltshire area in the early 1990s in which the police were stopping drivers using radar detectors and successfully finding them after confiscating the detector. The stories gained some notoriety and so everyone believed that radar detectors were illegal to use. Suppliers maintained that there was nothing in the law that specified that detectors were illegal, pointing out that there had yet to be a test case proven in court. However, what most customers didn't realize was that printed, usually in microscopic type, was a very specific disclaimer on the packaging, which I'll come to in a second. Some other disclaimers said things like, "Should you decide to purchase a detector, we would venture to suggest that Providence not be tempted by having the device operating in the presence of any enforcement agency, switch the unit off, and or remove it from show." Another retailer wrote, "To complete a prosecution, the police would have to prove you evaded their radar device by picking up their signal and changing your driving habits accordingly. This is almost impossible and has never been proven in this country." Stories surrounding these police cases in Wiltshire and the home counties spread like wildfire and added to the confusion over the legalities of radar detectors. But it turned out the police were being very sneaky. They were actually reporting drivers to the Department of Trade and Industry under the Wireless Telegraphy Act for using a radar detector. And if the DTI responded with a legal ruling, the driver was slapped with a fine of up to £2,000. The police were told that while it wasn't an offense to own a radar detector and a license was not required, it was illegal to use them and they could confiscate such equipment if they suspected it had been used. I'm sure by now you can guess what the disclaimer I mentioned earlier alluded to. It said something along the lines of, "It's not an offense to sell or own a radar detector in the UK, but use of one will contravene the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949." As far as the DTI was concerned, in the eyes of the law, a radar detector was a radio receiver and must only receive transmissions intended for general reception. This was the mechanism used to punish people. Very sneaky indeed. This is the exact same law that surrounded radio scanners during this time. Thousands of people had their radio scanners confiscated and were taken to court and successfully prosecuted for using them to listen to the police. You were not legally allowed to pick up any radio transmissions not intended for you. This law still stands today and a radar detector was in theory picking up a radio signal not intended for you. In theory being a crucial term as you'll see soon. This meant that with the increase in sales of detectors, 12% or just over 3 million drivers in the UK were potentially breaking the law by 1995 under the Wireless Telegraphy Act.

[00:03:48]Now for the nerdy but relevant bit. The majority of radar speed traps work on the Doppler effect. The most simplistic explanation of this principle is based on the noticeable change in pitch of a police car siren as it first comes towards and then moves away from a static observer. The movement causes the compression or expansion of sound pressure waves dependent upon the speed and direction of the source. If you transmit a radio signal from a directional antenna towards a moving object and use another directional antenna to receive a small portion of the signal which is reflected back, you have the basis of a simple radar system.

[00:04:21]The reflected signal is altered in frequency by the movement of the reflecting object and this can be compared with the original signal in order to determine the speed and direction of the moving object. In order to make the equipment as compact as possible, radar speed traps use microwave frequencies as it allows the use of high gain narrow beam width antennas. This is particularly important if you want to be able to identify the speed of individual objects moving at relatively high speeds. Several frequency bands were first set aside for microwave radar systems or similar devices. The three most common bands being Xband 10.5 to 10.55 GHz, K band 24.050 to 24.250 GHz and finally the Ka band 34.2 to 35.2 GHz and some more were later added. Radar detectors are simple but very sensitive wideband receivers which are specially tuned to the bands used by speed detecting radars. The idea behind them is that they'll be able to detect the signal being transmitted by the radar unit before the radar can detect the very much weaker signal reflected back from your car. I hope that makes sense. The A8 was like a dog with a bone, calling for an outright ban on radar detectors at every opportunity.

[00:05:34]They felt that the sale and possession should be illegal, not just their use.

[00:05:38]They claimed that radar detectors were a false economy and drivers were being misled over their legal position. They along with the police were adamant that detectors were largely ineffective. Even the DTI admitted occasionally that the line between owning and using a detector was a gray area. But the perceived position of the law remained. That was until 1998 when a motorist had his conviction overturned because a judge found that radar detectors didn't intercept radar messages as had been thought earlier. Messages being the key word here. Let me explain the law to the letter as it stood and the court case.

[00:06:12]Section 5.B.1 of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949 stated, "It is an offense for a person to use any wireless telegraphy apparatus with intent to obtain information as to the contents, sender, or addressy of any message which the person using the apparatus is not authorized to receive.

[00:06:30]On January the 28th, 1998, it was a judged in R versus Nightbridge Crown Court exparte foot that to use a passive radar scanner which did not reflect or jamama carrier wave did not constitute quote receiving a message and was not in breach of section 5B.1 of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949.

[00:06:51]However, section 13.1 of the act stated it is an offense to use any apparatus for the purpose of interfering with any wireless telegraphy. The maximum penalty for such an offense was 6 months imprisonment, and using a device designed to jam or reflect carrier waves was just such an offense. Because the police couldn't immediately distinguish between a passive detector and an active jammer, they could seize the detector as evidence under sections 19 and 32 of PACE and 79.3 of the Telecommunications Act 1984. If they could prove it had elements that could actively jam, it would be liable for forfeiture under the 1984 Telecommunications Act. The law was clearly described in court for the first time. As radar guns and speed cameras didn't send out any information, radar detectors couldn't be classed as a receiving device. They simply noted the presence of a transmission. A jammer was clearly illegal, and a passive detector that had its own anti-detection of use circuitry could also fall foul of section 13.1 and land you in jail.

[00:07:52]After the test case, the market boomed with an estimated turnover of more than£10 million at its peak. Except this wasn't the test case. I found another case long lost to time from May 1972 in which Alan Reed of Chesher in Bookinghamshire was fined £20 for using a radar detector to test police speed traps. This was the real test case, but it failed to gain any notoriety in a time when radar detectors weren't widely used. The charge using wireless telegraphy operators without a license.

[00:08:23]Even the prosecutor, Terrence Mayer, described it as a very unusual case.

[00:08:27]Alan Reed was testing his detector by driving through a speed trap in his Land Rover at different speeds. When suspicious police officers stopped him, he produced a leaflet which claimed the device was legal to use, providing you had a domestic radio or television license. Funnily enough, the leaflet pointed out that an average fine for exceeding the speed limit was £17.50 50 and that the detector was a better investment at £13.75.

[00:08:52]It's worth mentioning that in the late 1980s, places like Tandandy sold radar detectors imported from the US along with a license application. If accepted, the license would allow the customer to use the device. But the problem was the home office didn't license them. So, it was a fruitless exercise that I suppose only served to ease Tandy's conscience.

[00:09:12]In 1989, a businessman named Christopher Roberts from Thatford was fined £1,000 for inciting readers of magazines to use radar detectors for police traps. He sold 190 imported devices from Taiwan, and the Home Office found him guilty of five offenses, including inciting readers of car magazines, to use unlicensed apparatus for wireless telegraphy. He was slapped with a £2,000 fine for each offense. Fast forward to 2000, and the government then started trying to ban radar detectors.

[00:09:41]ministers, the Department for Transport, and the Association of Chief Police Officers were determined to outlaw them on the grounds of safety. The government's reasons for banning radar detectors had to do with their ability to spot mobile speed cameras and also determine which fixed camera sites were operational, therefore reducing the deterrent effect of moving a single camera between several fixed sites. The government believed that the sole purpose of detection devices was to allow drivers that intended to speed to do so with impunity. In April 2005, a road safety bill was supposed to have been passed which would ban radar detectors once and for all. Crucially, the legislation wouldn't stop drivers using devices using GPS technology or databases that identify the position of speed traps or mobile police camera units. The bill was never passed by the House of Lords, and radar detectors remain legal to use to this day, despite many speed cameras now using alternative technologies. Funnily enough, the threat of an outright ban in 2005 led to a 300% increase in sales.

[00:10:40]The use of radar detectors was and still is illegal in many other countries. If you were caught with a radar detector in France, the police wouldn't hesitate in ripping it out and throwing it away.

[00:10:50]Switzerland was very much the same. The police there and in Belgium took a very dim view of drivers using them.

[00:10:57]So, that's how the Wireless Telegraphy Act was used to prosecute and find drivers for using radar detectors.