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A radar detector is a device that identifies the radar signals police use to measure the speed of cars. When it detects such signals, it beeps or issues some other alarm, so that a speeding driver might be able to slow down and avoid a ticket. Radar guns measure speed using what's known as the Doppler effect. When a radar wave bounces off a moving object, the wave's frequency changes. The difference in frequency between the original wave and the reflected wave indicates the speed of the object. The first consumer devices that could detect these radar waves appeared in the early 1970s. Sales really took off after the Arab oil embargo of 1973 led to a nationwide 55 mph speed limit. Police efforts to counter the detectors have included shifting their radars to different bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. Some have supplemented radar with laser-based systems or even visual systems such as VASCAR (visual average speed computer and recorder). Radar detectors are legal in private vehicles everywhere in the United States except in Virginia and the District of Columbia and on military bases. They are illegal, however, in commercial vehicles more than five tons. According to "Motor Trend" magazine, demand for detectors had softened since the nationwide 55 mph limit was scrapped starting in 1987. All federal speed limits were eliminated in 1995.Radar
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by ilikeitwhenitrains on March 9th, 2010
a radar that detects radars
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