Unlike radar, with it's relatively diffuse pattern of coverage, laser must be aimed precisely at your car to read your speed. As the timing of the reflection of the beam is the basis for determining your speed, most cops aim at either a flat vertical surface, like a front license plate, or headlights, with their parabolic reflectors seemingly tailor-made for this purpose. Owing to the need for such precise aim, and the speed in which the laser gun calculates your speed, even the best laser detector is only good for telling you to pull over and smile at the nice officer. I recall reading tests performed in a major car magazine a few years ago suggesting that:

1. A car with hidden headlights in their stored position is a LITTLE more difficult to track, as the headlight reflectors are not in a perfectly vertical position.

2. A white car, owing to the light reflective qualities of that color, is a LITTLE easier to track than an otherwise identical black car, owing to the light absorbing qualities of the color black.

3. Tilting the angle of your front license plate a few degrees can't hurt, but won't make you invulnerable.

4. The larger the frontal surface area of a car, the easier the target.

Wanted to buy: A jet black mid-nineties Miata.