Vehicle and Traffic Law § 397-a · Article 12. Other Provisions
Radar detectors and laser detectors prohibited
Text — Law content up to date as of October 30, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
§ 397-a. Radar detectors and laser detectors prohibited. 1. No radar detector or laser detector shall be used in any motor vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating of more than eighteen thousand pounds or in any commercial vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating of more than ten thousand pounds. The presence in such vehicle of a radar detector or laser detector connected to a power source and in an operable condition is presumptive evidence of its use by any person operating such vehicle. Such presumption shall be rebutted by any credible and reliable evidence which tends to show that such radar detector or laser detector was not in use.
2. The provisions of this section shall not be construed as authorizing the seizure or forfeiture of a radar detector or laser detector, unless otherwise provided by law.
3. A violation of the provisions of this section shall constitute a traffic infraction punishable by a fine of not less than twenty-five nor more than one hundred dollars.
Source of truth
- Edition
- Law content up to date as of October 30, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
- Official file
- https://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/laws/VAT397-A
- Text hash
- sha256 3e58f06d84fdde7cf90641210b96faaa0248bfacb2ff7f4e4fe9fc213c29094a
- Composed by
- gen_ny_statutes.py 2026-11-10: the Senate's Open Legislation law tree (GET /api/3/laws/<ID>?full=true) read in document order; the Senate's PDF of the whole law (GET /pdf/laws/<ID>?full=true), read with PDFium, prints the same words in the same order
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.