Idaho Never Banned Radar Detectors, Except in Commercial Trucks

Idaho legislated in detail about vehicle equipment. Chapter 9 of title 49 runs from § 49-901 to § 49-967 and covers lamps, brakes, mufflers, mirrors, windshields, glazing, tires, fenders, flares, horns, air conditioning, motorcycle footrests, road clearance, bumper height and air bags. A radar detector is not in that list, and a full-text pass over the Idaho Code returns no section using radar, laser, speed measuring device, speed detection device or speed timing device in any context relating to a vehicle. Idaho also never enacted a device-jamming offence, so there is no counterpart to the laser-jammer bans some states carry.

That absence is not the whole answer, because § 49-902 supplies the framework. Subsection (1) makes it unlawful for any person to drive or move, or for an owner to cause or knowingly permit to be driven or moved, any vehicle that is in an unsafe condition, that does not contain required parts, that is not equipped with the lamps and other requirements in proper condition and adjustment, or that is equipped in any manner in violation of the chapter. Subsection (2) then provides that nothing in the chapter shall be construed to prohibit the use of additional parts and accessories on any vehicle not inconsistent with the chapter. A detector adds nothing the chapter regulates and interferes with nothing it requires, so it is exactly the kind of additional accessory subsection (2) preserves.

Commercial drivers are in a different position, and Idaho put them there by rule rather than by statute. The Idaho State Police Commercial Vehicle Safety programme publishes The Motor Carrier Rules at IDAPA 11.13.01 under the authority of Idaho Code § 67-2901A. Section 002.04 of that chapter adopts 49 C.F.R. Parts 356, 365, 380, 382, 383, 385, 386, 387, 388 and 390 through 399, and section 002.05 provides that where those federal regulations would otherwise exempt intrastate carriers, apart from Part 391.11(b)(1), the exemption does not apply and intrastate carriers remain subject to the same requirements. Section 019.01.b reaches further down the weight scale, requiring intrastate carriers running property vehicles over 10,000 and up to 26,000 pounds to comply with 49 C.F.R. Part 390 Subpart A, Part 391.15, Parts 392 and 393, and parts of Part 396. Part 392 contains § 392.71, which states that no driver shall use a radar detector in a commercial motor vehicle or operate a commercial motor vehicle equipped with or containing any radar detector, and that no motor carrier shall require or permit a driver to violate that paragraph. Section 002 of the Idaho rule also fixes the incorporation method: subsequent recompilations of an adopted federal regulation are adopted too, but subsequent amendments are not.

Two Idaho rules still shape how a detector may sit in a private car. Section 49-943(1) bars driving with any sign, poster or other nontransparent material on the front windshield, side wings, or side or rear windows that obstructs the driver's clear view of the highway or any intersecting highway, so a windshield-mounted unit has to stay out of the sightline. And the distracted driving statute is drafted broadly enough to matter: § 49-1401A(1)(a) defines a mobile electronic device to include, along with phones and tablets, any similar electronic device used to initiate, receive or display communication or information, while excluding an information or communication system installed within a vehicle. Section 49-1401A(2) prohibits operating a motor vehicle while using such a device except through one-touch activation or deactivation or voice command, so reaching over to adjust a detector's settings on the move is the exposure, not the detector's presence.

In a private vehicle there is no Idaho offence to commit by owning, mounting or using a radar detector, because no section of the Idaho Code addresses one. 50 where no statute, Idaho Supreme Court Infraction Rule 9 fixed penalty or local ordinance amount sets a figure. Handling the device while driving is charged under § 49-1401A instead, a moving violation and an infraction of $75 for a first offense, $150 for a second within three years and $300 for each subsequent offense within three years, with a discretionary license suspension of up to 90 days after three convictions in three years.

05 removes the federal exemptions that would otherwise spare an intrastate Idaho carrier. Enforcement falls to the Idaho State Police Commercial Vehicle Safety programme, and roadside checking stations exist for it under Idaho Code § 40-510. Idaho runs no periodic safety inspection for passenger vehicles, so nothing inspects a private car for accessories in any event.