Besides the obvious “welcome to [state name]” sign. Is there a significant change in architecture, infrastructure, agriculture, store brands, maybe even culture?
Besides the obvious “welcome to [state name]” sign. Is there a significant change in architecture, infrastructure, agriculture, store brands, maybe even culture?
One comment mentioned that some things are legal in one state but illegal in another.
And I also remember that laws in general are often quite different between states.
So, I am wondering if there exist some kind of controls near state borders to catch illegal stuff and practices (or even wanted persons?) crossing the border?
they used to search all cars entering minnesota from wisconson for fireworks until the courts ruled that was illegal without a warant for the specific cars to search. This was around 30 years ago. California has done searchs for ‘bugs’ before but don’t know if the still do.
in every case I’ve seen you don’t see any difference but locals know and will bicker over trivial things like sport teams or best state bird.
California still maintains agricultural inspection stations. Based on the FAQ, I think the legal workaround they’re using is that they can deny entry to a vehicle until it is inspected even though they cannot, strictly speaking deny entry to people.
The inspection station I pass by is still there, but it’s been literal years since I’ve actually been stopped or even seen it manned. I don’t make the trip regularly and have always been in a sedan, so maybe I’ve just been lucky. Though my guess is that funding cuts have hit them badly.
I guess that is not “Bugs” as in butterfly?
It is stated to be literally for bugs, as in insects, for agricultural protection reasons. It’s in quotes though, because typically the real purpose of such inspections is to “accidentally” find other contraband “in plain sight” during the thorough inspection for “bugs”.
Ok, this is bonkers. Although the risk of contamination with foreign insects via transit is real (we e.g. imported the Tiger Mosquito from the US via tire shipments from the U.S. into Europe some years ago…), using that as an excuse to search passenger cars is quite a stretch…
Yeah, but… as you say. It’s an excuse. Give war on drugs people an opening, they take it. Anything to oppress the poors.
This would become quite a thorny constitutional issue very quickly. The 14th amendment explicitly specifies that one state can’t try to prosecute someone for something done in another state that was legal there but is illegal here. This has further been interpreted to mean that interstate travel as a whole is a protected right, and any form of checkpoint or other hassle-station on a border between states would surely also be a 4th amendment violation.
That’s not to say some idiot won’t try it eventually, especially given the current political climate, but up until now it’s not done as a matter of course.
A state neighboring mine got in big time hot water a decade or so ago for stationing their own cops in our state and tailing people out of liquor store parking lots with the aim of harassing them over the minutiae of the differences in liquor laws between the two. Obviously that didn’t fly, because that state does not have jurisdiction here which means they have no grounds for a stop or search. Likewise, entering another state is not legal grounds for a stop and search unless that state’s law enforcement already has some manner of articulable probable cause.
Ok, expected this to be covered legally somehow.
Also as I assume that freedom of movement would be a value you are regarding highly in the States.
Yes! When you cross into Virginia one is greeted with signage expressing radar detectors are illegal.
Yes indeedy! And to turn on your lights if your wipers are on, and to buckle up, and your speed may be monitored by aircraft. But pay no mind to the aircraft signs. The program ended up being way too expensive and they just never took the signs down. But do watch out for those cut throughs between the trees along the interstates because staties absolutely are hiding in there hoping for easy pickins.
And some have radar detector detectors. Turn your device off if you don’t want an extra $100 added to your speeding ticket.
I still like to imagine fighter jets or attack helicopters swooping in to blow up speeders, or in more modern times drone strikes
This is perfect, because I vaguely remember the Virginia signs reading, “ speed enforced by aircraft.”
Thankfully, I’m protected by my radar detector detector detector.
Just owning them or actually using them? What are the fines?
It’s illegal to own one in Virginia. If you’re from another state where they are legal you’re supposed to take it off your windshield or at the very least turn it off if you have a more built-in kind. I remember they used to be relatively common in the ’90s and early ’00s but I really don’t see them very often anymore, so I don’t know if that’s as much of an issue nowadays.
Do those detectors even work against LIDAR? A lot of police use that now anyway.
Keeping in mind that I haven’t looked into this in over 20 years, back then the answer was technically yes but practically not really, or at least not well, and I’d be surprised if the answer has changed much in the intervening years. Radar has a fairly wide beam and most systems, at least at the time, would just leave it on all the time, so it would be pretty easy for a radar detector to pick up the signal while it was targeting other cars, well before the car with the detector would be targeted. This would typically give the driver time to slow down before they were targeted. By contrast, LiDAR uses a much narrower beam. IIRC the width of the beam even at some of the farthest effective distances was still about 3-feet (≈1 meter) wide or less, and the officers were trained to aim at where the front license plate would be. That meant it was quite likely that the targeted vehicle would absorb or reflect most if not all of the signal. On top of that, the LiDAR guns would only be active for a few seconds, so even if there was rogue signal that made it past the targeted vehicle there would only be a very limited window for the detector to observe it. It’s absolutely possible for the detector to pick up the frequencies being used, but more than likely if it was detecting a signal it would be because an officer was in the process of getting the vehicle’s speed so any alert would be coming too late.
Valentines work
https://www.valentine1.com/v1-detectors/
Not typically. You’ll see police along the major highways for speeders and the like but no state border patrol like that. Legally often transporting across state lines is a crime in and of itself but it’s one of those things where they look the other way unless they catch you using whatever item.
Often this is done for practical purposes, because if it’s legal in the state you started in, and might be legal in your final destination, they’d piss off more people that not of they stopped and confiscated from everyone.
Makes sense. Would also just generate work for the police forces with probably only low level violations to be uncovered.
Being practical is a good approach.