Michael Valentine, guru of radar detector technology, dies at 74

Mr. Valentine and a friend took apart a radar-detection unit in the 1970s and reimagined the technology from scratch. The reason: They liked to drive fast.


Michael Valentine, holding one of his radar detectors. (Brian Steege)

By Brian Murphy
September 26, 2024 at 4:53 p.m. EDT

Michael Valentine, an electrical engineer with a passion for fast cars and open roads who gave drivers a ticket-avoiding tool as one of the key developers behind the modern radar detector, died Sept. 16 at his home in Cincinnati. He was 74. ... A family statement confirmed the death. The cause was an aneurysm, a company official said.

There was nothing overtly outlaw about Mr. Valentine. He boasted of his nerdy devotion to electronics and looked the part with a button-down style. But within an automotive subculture, he was regarded as a tech rebel who helped reset the never-ending duel between police looking for speeders and drivers seeking not to get nabbed.

The radar detectors crafted by Mr. Valentine beginning in the 1970s set the industry standard for decades and became part of highway lore such as on the Cannonball Run, an unsanctioned coast-to-coast time challenge that inspired a 1981 movie starring Burt Reynolds. (The current record is under 26 hours at an average speed of about 110 mph.)

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Michael David Valentine was born in Dayton, Ohio, on Oct. 28, 1949, and raised in nearby Vandalia. His father was a mechanical engineer, and his mother was a homemaker. ... As a child, he took an interest in amateur radio and the electronics inside. He received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1973 from the University of Cincinnati, where he met his future wife, Margaret Kreutzberg, while she also was a student.

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By Brian Murphy
Brian Murphy joined The Washington Post after more than 20 years as a foreign correspondent and bureau chief for the Associated Press in Europe and the Middle East. Murphy has reported from more than 50 countries and has written four books.follow on X @BrianFMurphy