| I've used a detector since the 80's. Got pulled twice for having it. Once by a cop using a detector detector, and once because I was talking to a chick and the cop pulled up behind me and saw it on the dash (I should have pulled completely off the roadway - my fault). Anyway, the fine is about sixty dollars plus court costs. They will record the serial number of your detector, but Virginia law forbids its' confiscation. They will give it back to you. If they don't (you might get a smart-assed cop), the state law says send a letter to the court having jurisdiction within thirty days. The way I see it, the ninety or so dollars I get fined for having it (it's a state code - not city, so the fine is standard), is worth not getting a speeding ticket and the resultant costs associated that (fine, points, insurance increase). Those signs are essentially a scare tactic. The detector detectors are quite expensive and most localities don't have the funds to purchase more than one or two - if even that many. The tactic a lot of troopers and loco-yokos use on the interstates is to buzz along at night, get behind a car, hit the instant on and see if anything on the dash or windshield lights up; or see if the brake lights light up in response to an alert (our natural reflex to a Ka signal is to hit the brake). Use your detector and enjoy the protection.
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