Bill to end radar detector ban advances

Virginia's ban on radar detectors might be nearing an end.

A bill advanced in the General Assembly on Thursday that would end Virginia's distinction as the last state in which detectors are illegal, the Associated Press reported.

Only one other jurisdiction, the District of Columbia, outlaws the devices that alert motorists of speed traps.

Opponents of Del. Joe T. May's bill to end the ban first enacted in the 1970s say it would encourage drivers to speed up and make roads more deadly.

May (R-Loudoun) chairs the Transportation Committee, which advanced the bill on an 11 to 8 vote.

But May noted that some cars come with the detectors built in, and that detectors themselves slow speeds because drivers brake when the devices go off.