The Fast Lane: Michael Valentine’s Quest Against Speed Limits
Michael Valentine, a passionate electrical engineer, had a penchant for speed, particularly when behind the wheel of his beloved MGB sports car. However, everything changed in 1974 when a national highway speed limit of 55 miles per hour was imposed as a measure to conserve fuel. Valentine viewed this as the onset of a “holy war” between speed enthusiasts and law enforcement officers wielding radar guns. He famously stated, “In a holy war, you can take either side and be right,” during an interview with The Cincinnati Enquirer in 1981. He further elaborated, “The problem is that police radar is an electronic device of fallible character in the hands of ordinary human beings.”
Firmly believing that road safety should not be constrained by arbitrary speed limits, Mr. Valentine decided to take action. He armed himself with a revolutionary tool: the Escort, a radar detector he co-created with his college friend and business partner, Jim Jaeger, under their company, Cincinnati Microwave.
Their venture quickly gained traction. In 1979, just a year after the Escort hit the market, Car and Driver magazine conducted a comprehensive test of 12 radar detectors, ultimately declaring the Escort the best—“by a landslide”—for its exceptional ability to detect police radar signals. This glowing review significantly boosted sales, and by early 1981, Mr. Valentine proudly announced that Cincinnati Microwave had sold an impressive 50,000 units of the Escort.
Valentine’s commitment to innovation never wavered; he continually refined and enhanced the Escort. After parting ways with Jaeger in 1983, he founded Valentine Research, where he went on to design two new generations of advanced radar detectors, further solidifying his legacy in the world of speed detection technology.