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New Device Blows The Whistle For Motorist On Speed Traps
 NORTH TONAWANDA, N,Y. (UPI)-An electronics firm here has developed an "ultimate weapon" for the motorist - an antiradar radar device which cap be mounted in an auto to seek out 'and "neutralize" radar speed traps.
Providing the motorist with what in effect is his own distant early warning (DEW) system against surprise attack, the gadget is being marketed by Radatron Inc. under the name Radar Sentry.
It weighs 11 ounces, is battery operated and small enough to fit in the palm of the hand. It can "feel" radar impulses focusing in on a moving auto from 1,200 to 1,500 feet away-about a 'thousand feet beyond the critical point where a police monitor can start to measure accurately the speed of the "target."
Cites Numerous Complaints
The advance warning would be enough for all but the most determined speeders to slow down before they are "fixed" by radar.
William L. Waytena, 33, general manager and founder of Radatron, said Radar Sentry was developed in response to numerous complaints about the way police in some areas "use radar to collect revenues."
"We have received hundreds of letters, especially from the South, complaining against the uncouth tactics of police in hiding their radar installations in trees or bushes or stopping motorists going only one or two miles over the speed limit," Waytena said.
He stressed that the Radar Sentry was not designed to allow motorists to speed with impunity, but rather to "warn them when they start exceeding the speed limit as often happens unconsciously."
Whistles When It Works
The device is designed to fit on the dashboard or sun visor, its built-in antenna facing out toward the highway. First contact with an incoming radar beam starts it whistling and the whistling grows louder as the car moves closer to the radar installation.
Waytena said the effective antiradar range of Radar Sentry had been held down deliberately so that it could not be misused by "reckless speeders."
"For instance," he said, "if a person was going 50 m.p.h. in a 30 m.p.h. zone, Radar Sentry could not give him effective warning to slow down in time to avoid apprehension on the police monitor. If he were going 40 m.p.h., he would be covered.”
What do police think of Radar Sentry? Waytena said he had showed the device to local police and state highway officials in Albany and received no complaints – and even some compliments for his firm’s ingenuity.
"If the police really are sincere' about using radar as a safety preventive check, they should have no objection,'" he said. He said that many times police themselves actually published or broadcast locations of radar sites so that motorists would be forewarned against speeding. ' |
