VIDEO – How to Beat VASCAR Speed Enforcement

Remember that algebra formula you learned in back in high school; Rate x Speed = Distance?

Well this same formula has been used by police to catch speeders for years using what is called the constant velocity formula; Speed=Distance/Time.

And during this video we will share with you how police still use this technology and some simple strategies on how you can avoid getting caught.

First off for a police officer to do this type of enforcement he needs four things:

1. A timing device
2. A stretch of roadway that has been marked out and measured
3. A computer, or a printout with the constant velocity formula already calculated for this location
4. A location for the officer to observe this marked location
5. And in some situation such as aircraft speed enforcement, a chase vehicle

Lets first discuss the timing device.

The simplest timing device is a stopwatch, however police also use a device called VASCAR and now even apps on their smartphone.

There are even some police laser guns and radar detectors that have this stop watch feature built into them.

The most popular timing device came out in 1996, which was called VASCAR, which is an acronym for Visual Average Speed Computer and Recorder.

Basically the VASCAR device is a stand alone computer with a stop watch that mounts inside the officers patrol car enabling the officer to measure the vehicles speed as it passes two fixed objects.

The second thing an officer needs is a section of roadway with two or more fixed locations marked out.

These marked locations are typically painted lines on the roadway, however you’ll discover during this video they can also be roadway signs, guard rails or what ever else the officer would want to use as reference points.

Next if the officer is not using a VASCAR type of device that will calculate the speed, he would then need to have a print out like this with the formula already figured out based upon the timing.

Then forth an officer will need is a place to observe this marked location.

This can be on an overpass, on a hill, or even in an aircraft flying above you.

Then of course if they are using aircraft speed enforcement, someone on the ground that is called the chase vehicle.

Now this first location is at the junction of US93 and SR71 north of Wickenburg Arizona.

This highway is the main corridor linking Las Vegas and Phoenix and you can bet that each weekend there will be an officer or two parked off the highway clocking vehicles as the pass over the overpass.

This location is also very popular during the holiday weekends for aircraft speed enforcement.

And on this overpass there are two signs that are exactly 831 feet or .15753 miles apart.

Now lets have some fun and clock some of the vehicles

Now we timed this vehicle at 9.56 seconds and now by referencing our chart for this location we can estimate the speed at 78.59 miles per hour.

The next VASCAR location we will visit is a location is on SR89 north of Wickenburg on Yarnell Hill.

This section of highway speed limit is only 45 miles per hour and because of the twists and turns is a very popular area for motorcyclists to race each other up the hill at speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour.

Because of this there have been multiple motorcycle fatalities and it is a very popular section of road for the Arizona Highway Patrol to use this type of enforcement.

Point A of this speed enforcement area is the beginning of this guard rail and point B is the rear of the guard rail painted with white paint.

The distance between these two points is 1096 feet, or .2074 miles.

The officer doing the enforcement is then parked another half mile up from this location further up the hill, looking down.

Now once again lets grab our stop watch and clock a vehicles speed from point A to point B.

Now you can see that we timed this vehicle at 12.91 seconds and if we reference our chart we can see that the driver is driving less then the 52 mile per hour speed so he wouldn’t be pulled over for speeding.

Now one question you may have been asking yourself as you been watching this video is “will a typical radar detector protect myself from this type of enforcement” and the answer is no.

However if you have Escort’s newest radar detectors, the Passport Max2 or the Escort Passport you would have received an alert to slow down, here is why.

Both the Escort Max2 and the Passport are Escort Live ready and these two VASCAR speed traps are both entered into the Escort LIVE system, so as you would have approached either of these two locations you detector would had warned you that you’re about to enter a documented speed trap area.

And here is another example of how Escort Live saved me during another VASCAR encounter this past August just south of Flagstaff on I-17 when my radar detector alerted me to a police spotted alert.