This last week I got pulled over for going 81, twice.
Both times I had my cruise set at 71, exactly 10 mph difference.
I have had my girlfriend drive beside me at various speeds and her speedo always matched mine from 30 up to 75.

Is there anything that can make a radar misread the S?
slanted front lic. plate, color, tint, etc?
Or, is there anyway that cruise can be off without the speedo showing it?

Thanks for any help!

 

Sorry about the tickets, that sucks!! Are you on stock wheels and tires? That is about the only thing I could think of but then your GF's car wouldn't match either. Do you have access to a GPS? You could use that to track your speed. Other than that the only thing I could think of is have the cop drive your car and you shoot him with the radar

 

I don't know about your area, but in Dallas, TX the annual state inspection includes a speedo test. Using a GPS is another good idea. One thing I've personally experienced once is a cop outright adding a ficticious 10 MPH to my speed for the sake of his "bust". I was driving down a road that I thought was 40 MPH at 39 MPH because I saw him turn in behind me. My radar blipped for less than 1 second before he turned on his lights and pulled me over. He said I was doing 50, and the speed limit turned out to be 35 MPH.

 

BTW, your cruise control would not cause your speedo to be inacurate.

 

No.

 

you almost certainly weren't radared.....you were probably paced....pacing if done incorrectly can result in a higher speed reported than you were going. If it was radar he could have hit another car and pulled you over instead. I do hope you didn't say....'but officer I was only going 71', because you've probably lost any case you had then because you're still speeding....

 

I have tested my speedometer with GPS many times. usually it is approx 0.5 mph faster than the GPS at 80 MPH.

you can get a cheap GPS now for under $200

 

My speedo is some 2-4kmh fast when I drive through towns with those radar signs up. So, 50 speedo means 47 actual or so. It's a lot more accurate than the speedo on my previous M3, which was closer to 10% fast at speed.

///Robin

 

Actually - YES. Police RADAR is one of the biggest scams out there and any number of things can cause a police radar to read a bad number ... the most common being their quota.

I was an Electronic Warfare Operator in the Navy prior to my Commissioning and can preach the facts and myths about Police radar. Bottom line, there's few situations where it can be considered 100% accurate.

The bad news, you're being taxed (again) for owning a nice car (or your driving habits - even if you're within the law, aggressive drivers get deliberately targeted).
Tickets are very hard to beat for the simple fact traffic court is a kangaroo court ... they don't have to read you your rights (when you get pulled over), they deliberately ask you leading questions (when you get pulled over), and the court is going to find you guilty based on the 'fact' that "... RADAR has been proven reliable by precedence...". In other words, since other people have been found guilty over and over via RADAR ... it must be accurate ... oh, and they're getting their money one way or another.

Sad but true.
BTW, the budgets of most city/county/state governments account for a given number of dollars gained through traffic court. This ultimately drives the quotas ... in other words, the Police are forced to act as glorified meter maids in order to generate revenue.

Purchase a quality radar detector ... it helps.

 

Thanks for all your help and suggestions.
Here's an update:
Last night I saw a "your speed is" radar sign and decided to go back by on cruise at 71. The 2 cars ahead of me passed and I saw both of their speeds(66/68), when I passed it flashed dots instead of numbers.