Cut my third leg off today

[Fawnbuster]

I've pulled the fuse and replaced fuse 8 with a single fuse of the same size. I then used ForScan to turn off Telematics. Finally, I unplugged the cellular modem located in the passenger foot well.

A side benefit is that I have noticed a large reduction in dark current draw. My truck doesn't need the battery recharged all the time any longer. Battery drain when the truck sits for days is now the same as my 2005 Ranger (this is only a part of my effort to maximize battery life).

Here a short video about what is going on with telematics. And here is a website where you can input your Vin # to determine what the manufacturer publishes with regards to what they are doing with Telematics.

Vehicle Privacy Report

I would advise anyone using this site to not use their solutions to remedy the problem. You may only make matters worse. It is far better to simply unplug and know that nothing is coming and going from your truck.

It's a shame that there isn't just an opt out button for all of the spying.

Sponsored

 

[Fawnbuster]

That works. Just be sure to de-Google or leave your phone at home, lest Google sell your driving info anyway.

Or use a Faraday cage for a phone holder.

 

[Fawnbuster]

And since all the other autos around you will try to snitch you out if your speeding, maybe it is time for a cell phone j@mmer that blocks all signals say in a 100' radius. Owning a cell phone jammer is not illegal, but operating one is. I have no idea how you block their cameras from taking your picture, but I am sure that people smarter than me will find a creative way to defeat the tech with other tech. Consider the following history:

Cops use radar to catch speeders

People purchase radar detectors,

Cops purchase radar detector detectors

People purchase illegal radar detector detectors & jammers

Cops outlaw jammers and radar detectors (In Va) and catch you with their radar detector detectors that are illegal for you to own.

and around and around we go chasing technology

I have friends who routinely drive in Va, and have had police stop them searching their car for the detectors, and never find them. I have had other friends who had them and the cops instructed them to place them on the ground in front of the tires and then have them pull forward, destroying them. Va LEO can't confiscate your detector unless it is used as evidence, and then must be returned.

I would think that's just an infraction and a search of a car for a radar detector would need to be a consent to search and not probable cause if it's not clearly visible...

 

[DukeCanBuildit]

My Favorite Martian!

 

[DukeCanBuildit]

He just reached in and opened it?? WTF

“Have you had anything to drink tonight”?“

​

“No”​

“Do you have any guns or anything in your pockets that’s gonna poke me”?

“No”​

“I’m not going to find any weapons or drugs in the car am I - no knives, bombs, or hand grenades, that kind of thing”?

​

“No”​

“Mind if I take a look”?

“No”​

​

Consent - oops!

 

[TJC]

My latest yearly blood work showed abnormal MCH/MCV. I didn't know what that is, so I looked it up.
One cause for that is too little vitamin B12 or folate(B9) in my diet. Now every page I visit, I get ads for B12 and B9.

Make sure you take Folate, and not Folic Acid. Folate is naturally found in foods and converts to 5-MTHF (the biologically active form of B9 in your digestive track.

Folic Acid is a synthetic version of Folate, and only some of it is converted into 5-MTHF by your liver. In a large minority of people conversion of folic acid is very inefficient (slow and low %).

The folic acid not converted ends up in your blood stream. Over time even taking small amounts of folic acid leads to unmetabolized folic acid buildup in your blood stream, and this leads to an increase risk of cancers.

Remember your mother admonishing you to eat your greens! They are better than vitamins!

 

[TJC]

I would think that's just an infraction and a search of a car for a radar detector would need to be a consent to search and not probable cause if it's not clearly visible...

The Va LEO's radar detector detector flashing as you drive by leads to probable cause.

 

[NotBudule2]

My Favorite Martian!

Mine too !!! This guy below is my "least favorite Martian" though , bigtime attitude on this dude ...

 

[TJC]

I actually own that series! Very korny.

 

[shovelhd]

I would think that's just an infraction and a search of a car for a radar detector would need to be a consent to search and not probable cause if it's not clearly visible...

I'm in a truck with Massachusetts tags. He knew I had a detector because he either detected it or saw it. You're suggesting that I have a roadside dispute with a Virginia State Trooper over my "rights"?

 

[TJC]

Mine too !!! This guy below is my "least favorite Martian" though , bigtime attitude on this dude ...

I like his dog K-9. I have all the Warner Brother's Cartoons. You never grow too old to laugh a little!

 

[Fawnbuster]

I'm in a truck with Massachusetts tags. He knew I had a detector because he either detected it or saw it. You're suggesting that I have a roadside dispute with a Virginia State Trooper over my "rights"?

I never suggest arguing or a dispute with any LEO. Just reaffirming a constitutional right we all have. A quick roadside conversation is safer and smarter with consent. I worked drug & Criminal interdiction for several years in my career, got turned down for a consent to search a few times and I walked away and so did they. Otherwise most of the time I already had PC for a search, it's much easier and safer with consent let alone watching them squirm. It's called picking your (or my own) battles in life.

I bought a used Bronco right after I was sworn in. Previous owner left their high end radar detector mounted above the visor, they said it never worked and gave it to me. Turns out the installer ran a screw thru the wire. I fixed it and kept that truck and detector 17 years. I figured when I was in my own vehicle I was just as much fair game as the next guy. 4 years after I retired I bought one and put it in my Ranger. I just try to drive with the flow of traffic so I'm not causing a back up but I never let people box me in.

On a humorous note at least for me, when I was in my unmarked vehicle and working nights if I got behind a car at a light at night and if I saw the green led on a visor I would turn my radar off and on and watch them go to mute it a few times until they gave up and shut it off.


Radar units have an instant on feature. After you turn the instrument on and checked it's calibration at the start if the shift you can put it into stand by mode, it's still powered up it just isn't emitting radar until you hit transmit. I stopped a guy in a brand new BMW, still had the paper plate. He was driving aggressively, in and out of traffic and 20 over the limit. While I was writing his citation he took a hard bound book and beat his new high dollar radar detector into bits and threw it into the back seat. As I was cutting him loose I asked him why he destroyed his detector and he said it didn't work, it only gave a 1 second beep. I explained the instant on feature and he sank In his seat.
Radar stands for radio detection and ranging. VASCAR stands for visual average speed computer and recorder. It's a fancy stop watch with distance computed. Think of the INDY 500 qualifications, they use vascar to come up with the average lap speed around a 2.5 mile track. Undetectable, it just takes a few seconds more to clock a vehicle. I won't bore you all with examples.

I never left my radar on for 3 reasons.

If your not careful they can cause cancer, especially the hand held that guys would leave it on and setting in there lap. Two buddies had testicular cancer.

2nd reason, when left on it warns all of the extra aggressive drivers to act like normal, slow down and move over as they came at you, I could watch multiple vehicles do that over the course of a shift. Those drivers are the ones who cause crashes(bad ones) and often they caused the crash but where not actually involved in a collision.

3rd reason is one a career criminal taught me, I was arresting him for burglary and he had a radar detector, when I put him in my car he noticed my radar on the dash and saw it wasn't transmitting and on his own he uttered "us burglars keep them radar detectors on so we know when a cops around, if it went off a few times we'd just leave the area" I locked up several burglars and thieves who had a radar detector operating on the dash....A lazy cop would think well if they detected me I chased them off then that's a good thing... I would rather catch a felon in the act and get them off the street. You'd be surprised what else they've done or had warrants for let alone weapons in the vehicle and if they where prohibited from carrying a firearm even better. I had an adult son and his middle aged father stopped NB I 65 one day. Son was older than me and was an HTV (felon) . I saw a handgun sticking out from under his seat when I asked him to step out and talk with me. By that time I had my backup with me and he kept an eye on my driver. When i went to get his dad out of the front passenger seat to see if he had a DL so he could drive himself home he didn't answer me, he tried to distract me by saying his wallet was in his gym bag in the back seat ( I could see his wallet in his back pocket ) he tried 3 times to get by me and get the gym bag, my BU told me at this point my driver started sweating and got really nervous. I told dad I would hand him the gym bag, when I grabbed it I could feel a weapon inside and pulled out a sawed off pistol grip double barrel 12 gauge, loaded right on top. It was 12 inches long if that. After they both got cuffed and we investigated further, turns out both are serious violent convicted felons who aren't legally permitted to be in possession of any firearms much less own them. They both had warrants and had some drugs they where carrying for a dealer (way more than for personal use).

I'm off my soap box now. Never turn your back on ANYONE in this world that you don't trust with your life.

 

[Fawnbuster]

The Va LEO's radar detector detector flashing as you drive by leads to probable cause.

Only for a stop, not necessarily for a search. I can see a car speeding and that would be PC for my stop but without reading the VA statute I have to doubt it states they can search just because of it going off. On the other hand radar guns emit the radar in loops that get bigger and wider as they go into infinity. Having been on both sides of this I can safely say a radar detector I've seen in use registers the radar much faster and at a greater distance than I could clock a vehicle. From the LEO stand point you have to pay attention to traffic and your surroundings to know which vehicle your clocking in order to identify it and or the driver and make a stop. I wasn't about to risk my job, reputation and pension on just thinking I had the correct vehicle, its a $150 + or - ticket in court (at that time). Let em go. There's 10 more behind them doing the same thing in a mile or so. Unless of course it's the only vehicle on the road.

Radar became significantly more sophisticated during my 34 year career. Used to be that radar would only clock the largest closest target that reflected the radar back to you, think of a semi approaching your cruiser but a speeding small car or a MC passing the semi, vast 99% of the time I could never clock the speeder due to interference so to speak from the semi. Then they came up with a way to filter it and show you the strongest closest vehicles signal and then a secondary signal of the fastest vehicle over all within range (not vehicles over a hill etc however a good radar detector can pick up radar coming over a hill or a curve to an extent since the radar beams bouncing off of every hard or metal object as you get closer). If I was running radar and saw a strong target running at or around the speed limit and I knew they where safe to let pass by, I would watch the fastest target mph. If that speed was significantly higher like 20-25 mph + I would put the radar in stand by and watch traffic down the road and find the vehicle that was hauling ass past everyone and wait until there fast speed jumped to the target speed and by then they where had. Aggressive driving in and of itself is more dangerous in my minds eye, speeding and or weaving in and out of there lane and or not signal, cutting people off, following too closely etc etc.)

I guess theoretically if I was in VA or DC with a radar detector I would just shut if off and stick it in the glove box etc until I was out of state. Theoretically speaking if course, I'm not condoning knowingly breaking a law. I would just blend in and drive within the law ?

 

[shovelhd]

From the LEO stand point you have to pay attention to traffic and your surroundings to know which vehicle your clocking in order to identify it and or the driver and make a stop.

I was in heavy traffic, about six lengths behind an F350 doing the same speed as me. He pulled me over for two reasons.

I was from Massachusetts. A Yankee on his land, south of the Mason-Dixon line.

He knew I had a radar detector. He found it either visually while I was taking it down, or by using a detector detector. That's a big fine all by itself in VA. He knew that I would never challenge the ticket in court.

The one saving grace was that there was no reciprocity between VA and MA at the time, so my insurance was not affected.

 

[Jason B]

I know they collect a lot more, just what I could think off the top of my head. I also believe our cell phones are the most compromised device we own.

I don't think its futile. If I leave my phone at home now I can have confidence that the recording of my life has been greatly reduced. I don't think we can totally eliminate it now days. Been seeing little black solar powered license plate readers popping up around here.

Is it still convenient when insurance goes up $200.00- $400.00 a year.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/technol...g-driver-sharing-data-car-insurance-companies

Hasn't happened to me, yet.
But as I see it, one of two things are happening.

1. People really are bad drivers and present a real risk, so the insurance companies are raising their rates to compensate.

2. Insurance companies are scum bags and are just using it as an excuse to raise the rates, whether are collecting getting data or not.

No 2 is the more likely to be happening.

Sponsored