When there’s a gun pointed at you, even a radar gun, you can get quite a scare.
Just ask Brenda Hickey of Lake Stevens.
She said she was startled recently when she saw a police officer pointing a gunlike radar detector at her.
After she got over the initial shock, she started wondering if it’s safe for an officer to use a radar gun in one hand while driving with the other.
“Law enforcement officials say that anything that affects a driver’s ability to operate his or her vehicle safely could be grounds for a reckless driving charge,” Hickey said. “Shouldn’t that be a rule that police officers follow as well?”
In fact, using a radar detector safely is a top priority, said Trooper Lance Ramsay, a spokesman for the State Patrol.
It’s common practice for troopers to use a radar detector while driving, Ramsay said, but he said they are attached to the dashboard on a swivel, which makes them safer to use.
In Lake Stevens – where Hickey said she got her radar gun surprise – city police officers use hand-held radar detectors while driving, but rarely, said Heather Coleman, administrative supervisor for the Lake Stevens Police Department.
“The difference from a cellphone or putting on makeup is (the officer) is looking at where he’s going,” Coleman said, adding that city officers get training on how to do both at once. “Officers use discretion.”
Many police officers – including state troopers – can take a radar detector in their hands, which they often do when watching for speeders on the side of the road.
Ramsay said troopers like to stand outside of their vehicle (or next to their motorcycle) because they can get a better bead on speeding cars.
“The trooper will stand outside of the vehicle so they can properly and definitely get the vehicle that is traveling the fastest,” Ramsay said. “The troopers won’t stand on the side of the road if they feel that it is not safe.”
As for drivers who think a radar detector will save them from getting a ticket, don’t believe it, Ramsay said.
“If someone has a radar or laser detector in their vehicle, most likely when the alarm sounds, it means that you have been caught speeding,” he said. “The radars and lasers that troopers use are that quick.”
Marine Drive speed limit
Question: The speed limit on Marine Drive was lowered several years ago in the Priest Point area near the Tulalip Reservation.
Now that an improvement project has been completed and traffic is mostly doing 45 mph on the new sections, when will the authorities do what they always claim – raise the speed limit to what most drivers are doing?
Dave Miller, Tulalip
Answer: The request by the writer is not an unusual one for a finished road project.
Before construction starts we predict what speeds will be appropriate on an improved road and then modify things after the project is finished and we get a chance to test the road.
Examples of this are Paine Field Boulevard, 132nd Street/Cathcart Way and Lowell Snohomish River Road. On each of these roads, the speed limit was increased after the project was completed and operating for a while.
The speed limit on this section of Marine Drive is being evaluated right now. We are scheduled to collect traffic data (speed, volume, etc.) needed to make a decision on the final speed within the next few weeks.
Jim Bloodgood, traffic engineer, Snohomish County Public Works Department
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
