Unusual Speed Trap on 401

[Corsair]

Sunday morning I'm leaving the city heading Eastbound in the right lane on the 401 Express. See a black SUV pulled over on the left shoulder of the Eastbound Collector. Cop is hunched over between SUV & the concrete barrier with a speed gun (LIDAR?) pointing into the Eastbound Express.

Didn't register as 5-0 until the last moment. Luckily I wasn't pulled over. Guess he was looking for faster prey.

I don't take the 401 too often, never seen this tactic before.


On an unrelated note, anyone ever been pulled over for speeding/etc by police using regular cars, not unmarked Crown Vics, but civilian-type cars? Like a beat-up minivan?

 

[Ninja10]

I've seen people get pulled over by a Chrysler 300, Ford Focus, seen someone quickly arrested by 2 cops getting out of a grey dodge caravan. Also i think it was a couple years ago, i saw 2 cops on sport bikes parked and speed-trapped traffic coming down a hill and they were hiding behind a mailbox near bayview & eglinton (sutherland to be exact)

 

[SOIGE]

Ya that bayview/eglinton speed trap is a killer.

I've been pulled over once by a beat up minivan as well. Didn't look like an undercover at all.

 

[puttockc]

Tonight eastbound to milton I saw a completely unmarked white panel van with Blues and two's flashing, had some poor driver

 

[SunnY S]

Sunday morning I'm leaving the city heading Eastbound in the right lane on the 401 Express. See a black SUV pulled over on the left shoulder of the Eastbound Collector. Cop is hunched over between SUV & the concrete barrier with a speed gun (LIDAR?) pointing into the Eastbound Express.

Hamilton Police use this tactic once in a while. Back doors open so you can't see police markings, and if you look carefully by the passenger side mirror, you can just make out the hi viz vest from the officer holding up the radar and zapping people as they approach. The poor guy in the Taurus wagon got pinched.

 

[markopas]

Sunday morning I'm leaving the city heading Eastbound in the right lane on the 401 Express. See a black SUV pulled over on the left shoulder of the Eastbound Collector. Cop is hunched over between SUV & the concrete barrier with a speed gun (LIDAR?) pointing into the Eastbound Express.

I saw the same thing about a month ago or so but was in a newer SUV all blacked out as I was heading Westbound, he was parked on the passing lane shoulder shooting his LIDAR while hanging outside the drivers side like Tarzan hanging on to who knows what so it must be pretty dam hard to see him from a distance or what the hell is was doing so you were definitely pinched by him if you got caught. My only thought was, how is this credible, doesn't his gun have to be mounted firmly in place so for tracking and shooting purposes there would be no problem of maybe hitting another car by accident but tagging you instead?

 

[Macs]

I saw the same thing about a month ago or so but was in a newer SUV all blacked out as I was heading Westbound, he was parked on the passing lane shoulder shooting his LIDAR while hanging outside the drivers side like Tarzan hanging on to who knows what so it must be pretty dam hard to see him from a distance or what the hell is was doing so you were definitely pinched by him if you got caught. My only thought was, how is this credible, doesn't his gun have to be mounted firmly in place so for tracking and shooting purposes there would be no problem of maybe hitting another car by accident but tagging you instead?

Not anymore, the newer LIDAR systems compensate for some movement of the cop. They do still have tripod mounted units though.

As far as RADAR, it doesn't work so well in traffic since it picks out the fastest car but will certainly hit several at once.

 

[markopas]

Just freaked me out because it was LIDAR and not RADAR (because with RADAR I know they can get away with this), I wonder if it's still admissible in court for them to do this because there are so many unknown variables that could cause inaccurate readings and site visualization.

 

[Dilligaf0220]

Cue the Halton cruiser dummy'd up to look like a taxi cab...they have a few oddball vehicles in their traffic fleet, so some bored Staff Sergeant is sitting around dreaming up these things. Bonus points for the their "undercover" sting they ran for a weekend around Burlington with some of their overpaid unionized knuckle draggers dressed up as homeless squeegee beggers...looking for cell phone users at red lights.

Seen a bunch of gold vans & SUV's running traffic lately, a few weeks ago some bright bulb at the end of the 407 was trying to "push" me over 130 in a gold Ford Explorer. He looked ****** when he couldn't get his street racer for that day I guess.


Didn't they used to hang people that would hide in bushes & rob people on highways?

 

[pfbmgd]

Let`s face facts speeding tickets are revenue .I keep asking the Police to enforce the speed on my street.It`s a two lane inlet street to a subdivision with bike lanes.A 50KM/HR zone .The slow cars are doing 70 .The police came out twice gave 12 30KM/HR tickets .Went back to the regular speed trap down the street in a industrial area .Where they can give out more than 12 tickets in one hour.

Safety is not the concern .But generating revenue fort he region .

 

[AL3RT]

:laughing3: exactly!

 

[Joots]

One i've seen them do on Lawrence just west from Don Mills is them off a side street, with their tripod mounted speed guns, standing off behind a tree, watching the remote readout. They are extremely hard to see until you're about 50 feet away from them, well after they have seen you. If you're going the other direction they are impossible to see. It is such an absolutely horrible spot, they bag so many people there around rush hour.

 

[Rob MacLennan]

Let`s face facts speeding tickets are revenue .I keep asking the Police to enforce the speed on my street.It`s a two lane inlet street to a subdivision with bike lanes.A 50KM/HR zone .The slow cars are doing 70 .The police came out twice gave 12 30KM/HR tickets .Went back to the regular speed trap down the street in a industrial area .Where they can give out more than 12 tickets in one hour.

Safety is not the concern .But generating revenue fort he region .

Certainly. If traffic division wasn't a money maker for then you'd see more using a tactic that the city of Vancouver did, not so long ago; cardboard cut-outs of cops with RADAR.

 

[DaveTheCanuck]

Cue the Halton cruiser dummy'd up to look like a taxi cab...they have a few oddball vehicles in their traffic fleet, so some bored Staff Sergeant is sitting around dreaming up these things. Bonus points for the their "undercover" sting they ran for a weekend around Burlington with some of their overpaid unionized knuckle draggers dressed up as homeless squeegee beggers...looking for cell phone users at red lights.

That car was decommissioned almost 5 years ago due to complaints. Nothing funky in the fleet anymore.

You should be happy Police are trying to do something about people texting and driving. Quit bitching.

 

[LoneRonin]

I've seen unmarked Dodge Caravans, a Totoya SUV and a few Jeep Cherokee. I was surprised they had a Toyota because I thought they only had contracts domestic manufacturers.

This was an OPP Impala, nothing gave it away other than those lights in the corner which you would probably never see until they lit your *** up...

 

[V-Tom]

...
On an unrelated note, anyone ever been pulled over for speeding/etc by police using regular cars, not unmarked Crown Vics, but civilian-type cars? Like a beat-up minivan?

I think the OPP have a small fleet of different vehicles they use.

I think it was in July over the course of a few weeks I saw a Black Mercedes ML bein used by OPP. This was in the area between 404 and 400. I saw it (them?) almost every day having people pulled over. It was completely unmarked with no way to tell it was a Police Vehicle until the lights went on. I haven't seen it lately though.


A year or two ago I was heading down HWY 400 on a Saturday on my way to work. I was catching up to a Domestic Full Size Pickup with a Cap on the back (I think it was Black but may have been dark Blue.) No indication that it was anything other than a Pickup with a Cap. When I was maybe 10 feet behind it (in the lane to the left) all of a sudden the lights came on behind the back door of the Cap. Scared the hell out of me! He wasn't after me though, pulled over the car in front of him that he had been following.

..Tom

 

[jeffjones]

I've seen unmarked Dodge Caravans, a Totoya SUV and a few Jeep Cherokee. I was surprised they had a Toyota because I thought they only had contracts domestic manufacturers.

This was an OPP Impala, nothing gave it away other than those lights in the corner which you would probably never see until they lit your *** up...

What about the big cop attena on the back......

 

[油井緋色]

Know someone who works with police fleet vehicles. He told me they have everything from smart cars to riced up civics =(

 

[Alex_San]

So when one of these cars lights up behind you, how do you know if they're cops and not some crazy weirdo with lights from ebay?

 

[Corsair]

I think it was in July over the course of a few weeks I saw a Black Mercedes ML bein used by OPP.

I thought I was safe with luxury cars behind me. Are TTC & school buses safe at least?

So when one of these cars lights up behind you, how do you know if they're cops and not some crazy weirdo with lights from ebay?

WOT until you see air support and spike strips?

No, seriously. Are you allowed to keep riding (SLOWLY) until you get to a gas station or someplace populated? It's not like we can call 911 to confirm their identity before stopping.