How do speed traps work and why do I have a warrant for arrest?

Getting caught breaking the speed limit is a lot easier than you thing it is. Even when you are sure that you are obeying the law at all times it's the easiest thing in the world to let your speed creep up a little and before you realize it... bam... you've been caught in a trap. You might not know that you've been caught and you could easily miss the letter they send you. If you don't receive the citation or you ignore it then sooner or later you're going to get an arrest warrant and then you will get arrested.

Police radar speed traps

Radar speed traps work by beaming out a radio wave that bounces off your car back to the radar speed gun. Using the same principle that changes the sound of a train as it gets closer to you, the radar trap can tell how fast you are going. The technical term for ths is the "doppler effect".

You can buy devices for your car that alert you to any police radar traps in the vicinity by monitoring the low level radio waves that they give out. This can help you to avoid getting caught driving too fast.

Laser speed traps

Laser speed guns use laser light instead of radio waves and are steadily replacing the radar speed trap. Lasers are much harder to detect in your car so your radar detector isn't going to help you here. You could get laser speed checked and get a citation possibly leading to an arrest warrant without you even knowing anything about it.

How to combat the new technology

Well you can't detect a laser speed trap in the area so you could try keeping your speed down but you and I both know that it just isn't that easy is it? It is so easy for you just to relax for a moment or make a small mistake in judgement and speeding is only one of many offences that you can pick up while driving.

Find out about warrants before you get arrested

New technology means that you can't avoid getting caught and luckily new technology allows you to find out quickly when you have a warrant so that you can deal with it as painlessly as possible. This isn't ideal but it's a whole lot better than getting dragged off to jail on a warrant. You can search for your arrest warrants using online public records. This is a lot easier than going to your courthouse to enquire about warrants and even if you did it would only work if you got the warrants in your state. You can't realistically check every courthouse in the land on a regular basis.

Remember how speed traps work and keep your speed down to avoid getting citations. Check regularly to make sure you haven't picked up an arrest warrant.