Warning of speed cameras over 50 years ago
08/29/2014
Devices that warned of radar controls were already available at the beginning of the 1960s. The first devices, e.g. the "Radar Sentry", came from the USA and were actually able to alert drivers to mobile or fixed radar measuring stations at an early stage, but only if they emitted their beams parallel to the road, as measurements at the time proved. In the case of radar devices aligned at an angle to the road, Radar Sentry only issued a warning when the control had already been passed.
It is also interesting to note that speed limits in built-up areas were not introduced until the end of the 1950s and that it was only then that the need for speed enforcement actually arose to any great extent. And because even then some controls were perceived as harassment, drivers began to protect themselves against the controls.
A detailed report on the first radar detectors appeared in Automobil Revue No. 28/1963.
