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Spotting a laser speed gun on the roadside or on an overhead motorway bridge at a half mile away needs some sharp eyes! Using a screen mounted radar detector can pick up the laser signals and provide a warning, but the trouble with laser guns is they are only operating when the trigger on the gun is pressed (unlike many of the roadside cameras using X & K band). So unless the detector picks up laser scatter from the gun being used to zap another vehicle ahead of you, then you will have no warning the operator is waiting for his next opportunity. This risk is greater when the traffic levels are light because the frequency the gun is used tends to be lower with longer gaps between use.

Many satnavs provide warnings of fixed speed cameras or locations where mobile speed detectors are used but unless the satnav database is frequently updated it can become out of date and provide inaccurate warnings. In some cases an alert of a speed camera provided by a satnav can be of the former location of the camera where it has been removed and an average speed control system introduced as a replacement over a length of road or motorway. In many urban areas 20mph limits have been introduced and again an ageing satnav without a regular database updates will fail to provide an alert to a new limit.

Radar detectors capable of detecting laser gun and X & K band camera signals are available. In the UK the Road Safety Act 2006 contained provisions about "speed assessment equipment detection devices" but we understand it has not been commenced. Users of radar detection devices were at one time prosecuted under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949 for intercepting messages, but on appeal from a case in 1999, the Divisional Court held that radar emissions were not in fact a message, so the appeal was allowed. What some drivers have been successfully prosecuted for recently is perverting the course of justice by using some kind of jamming device, as the sentence for this offence usually involves jail time, it is not to be recommended! Reports mention that some people with jammers took to speeding past police speed traps making V signs, so they did rather bring it on themselves! Clearly MGV8 enthusiasts would not descend to those levels!

In France speed detectors are banned, both live devices and satnavs using a speed camera database. The "Flic" are known to have the habit of of removing a suspect device from the windscreen, placing it under the front wheel of the vehicle and inviting the driver to move forward! A "crushing blow" in more ways than that because warnings of fixed speed cameras on satnavs are illegal in France and the fine for having the device is large.. So now your satnav will warn you of a "dangerous area" instead. To be fair, the French do put up notices warning of "Frequent Radar Controls" a mile of so before any cameras on the autoroutes, so you have sporting chance.