Are speed camera detectors legal?

[stevewright24]

There are quite a large number of websites discussing the legality of using speed camera detectors, and GPS based detectors are clearly legal to use, but what is the situation as regards radar based detectors?
Some websites I have read say radar based detectors were 'banned' by a 'road safety bill' but others claim they are not banned and are actively selling them!
So AnswerBank users? Are radar speed detectors legal to have and use in the front of my car? I would expect no problems from the police for using my TomTom GPS - should I expect problems with the police for using a radar detector?



On a related note, I drive past a number of yellow boxes shaped like speed cameras on my drive home - many of these boxes are on private land, of a different size than 'normal' speed cameras, and do not have correct signage on the approaching roads.
I suspect these yellow boxes are not speed cameras but fake cameras installed by local residents in an attempt to cause the road traffic to slow down.
Not only are these cameras annoying but they are also dangerous as other drivers seem insistent on driving through them at substantially less than speed limit, and as they are not signposted this leads to people slowing very quickly for non apparent reason on a busy road.
What is the law with regard to residents erecting 'fake cameras' on their private land?
Is there any (legal) way to get these cameras removed?

Thanks

[ComfortablyNumb]

Have a read of this

http://www.dailymail....shed-garden-wall.html

[Androcles]

Drive to the speed limit, then you won't need detectors and can ignore phonies. A dayglo jacket and a hairdryer works quite well for slowing down speeders as does firing the flash on you camera just after they have passed. Symphony of brake lights.......

[stevewright24]

The Dailymail article is quite interesting and seems to say that there is no law preventing you from installing things that look like speed cameras next to the road with the intent of slowing traffic (provided you own the land you install them on) Is this correct?

I have no real problem with speed cameras and in some places they are very appropriate, and in others they are not appropriate. If the police feel a camera is needed then there is likely a reason why - I'd simply like a detector to know which cameras are real and which are not. I already drive to the speed limit but just like hundreds of thousands of people with GPS based speed camera detectors, I'd like to know where they are (provided I can do so in a safe and legal way).

[New Judge]

I find this a little strange.

If, as you say, you keep to the speed limits, why should the location and authenticity of any speed cameras be of any interest to you?

As far as legalities go, I cannot see any law preventing somebody from erecting a fake speed camera on land that they own. The notion (in the Mail article) that a driver who may be distracted by such a device to an extent that causes him to crash, and who may go on to sue the landowner is fanciful. If anything the driver may himself face prosecution for careless driving.

Laser and Radar speed camera detectors are outlawed under the Road Safety Bill of 2004. However as far as I am aware, although this bill has received Royal Assent, many of its provisions have not been enacted and I believe the detection devices are still legal.

You may wish to consider, before getting one, that drivers have been prosecuted for operating devices such as these (and indeed SatNav devices) whilst driving. Although not specifically outlawed in the same was as mobile phones, fiddling with any device in a way which leads the driver not to have full control of his vehicle is an offence.

[Twenty20]

>other drivers seem insistent on driving through them at substantially less than speed limit

>I already drive to the speed limit

You seem under a misunderstanding that the speed limit is the speed you must drive. Funnily enough, just because a road may have a 30 mph speed limit doesn't mean you must or should drive at 30mph. It's not compulsory to drive at or anywhere near the speed limit.