By Eric Peters
for NMA
Mike Valentine – whose name is synonymous with what are arguably the best radar detectors available and who designed the first truly effective one that others then copied – has passed at the much-too-young age of 74.
I’ve known Mike since the ’90s, when I interviewed him for The Washington Times. I used to be a car columnist and editorial writer there. I liked Mike even before I got to speak with him because he was the guy who gave people like me – who like to drive – our driving enjoyment back. Before radar detectors – and after the advent of the “speed kills” cult that metastasized from a weird obsession of marginal neurotics such as Ralph Nader (who didn’t “speed” because he didn’t even drive) driving a car had become both dangerous – to your wallet – and torturous, in that it was necessary to have to constantly be on alert for radar traps manned by government workers looking to extract revenue in the form of what are blandly styled “tickets.”
As if the person who receives one bought one.
Anyhow, Mike’s invention – the radar detector – alerted drivers of the nearby presence of police radar in time to avoid being issued a “ticket.” The radar detector was a great leap forward over the CB radio, which – at the time – was pretty much the only way to get advance notice of a radar trip down the road. All of a sudden, you could enjoy driving again – and not be mulcted by the government (and then the insurance mafia) for “speeding.”
This was a particular godsend – at the time Mike began to sell his first detectors – on the highway because back then, the government had arbitrarily declared that driving faster than 55 MPH was illegal “speeding” and also suddenly “unsafe,” notwithstanding that it had been legal (and considered safe, ipso facto) to drive faster than 55 on pretty much every American highway before Drive 55 went into effect in 1974.
Most highway speed limits prior to this were 60-65 or even 70-75. Just like that, driving those speeds became “speeding” – and also the excuse used by the insurance mafia to make you pay even more than the government did in fines in the form of “adjustments” to your premium. Based on the assertion that your driving at speeds previously legal (and so, presumably, “safe”) had just like that become unsafe.
A single ticket for “speeding” could cost hundreds of dollars in court costs, fines and insurance “adjustments” that weren’t just a one-time but an ongoing mulcting. And if you had the bad luck to get another ticket during the three years following your conviction for your first such offense, before the first one faded off your “record,” it could and regularly did cost thousands in insurance “adjustments.”
This is how millions of Americans were relieved of millions of dollars.
Mike helped staunch the bleed – and gave us back the road. I can attest to this from my own experiences, years before I got to speak with Mike for purposes of doing a story about him. I got my first radar detector right after I got out of college and it probably kept me from going to jail. I did a lot of driving in those just-after-college days, in part because I wanted to see the country and because I was looking for work. I drove across the country (and back) twice. It would have taken me much longer – and been a lot less fun – without Mike riding shotgun. So to speak.
When I finally got to speak with him, I told him all about that – and thanked him for all he’d done to bring back the fun of driving. The cloying 55 MPH National Maximum Speed Limit was finally ended in 1994 – with Mike’s active support and help, along with the National Motorists Association, an organization both Mike and I have been affiliated with since the ’90s (Mike for longer than that).
He told me about his detectors, how they worked – and what they could do. Mike was a really smart guy. But he was also something else and more, which I can also attest to. He was a good dude. Patient, humble and self-effacing. Some very smart people aren’t and it spoils their smartness. Mike’s genuineness enhanced the appeal of his smartness.
He is gone much too soon.
I will say goodbye to him in my own way, later today. The rains of the hurricane have passed, so the coast is clear to fire up the Orange Barchetta and make some noise and leave some tracks.
I hope Mike will be able to hear and see. I salute you, sir!
Godspeed.
Eric Peters lives in Virginia and enjoys driving cars and motorcycles. In the past, Eric worked as a car journalist for many prominent mainstream media outlets. Currently, he focuses his time writing auto history books, reviewing cars, and blogging about cars+ for his website EricPetersAutos.com.
Editor’s Note: The thoughts and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of the National Motorists Association.
