New Service Maps Speed Traps By Cell Phone

esocid writes "In a modern equivalent of flashing your headlights to warn other motorists of police speed traps, you can now warn fellow drivers with a cell phone or personal digital assistant about speed traps, red-light cameras, and other threats to ticket-free driving. And as you approach a known threat, you'll get an audio alert on your mobile device. The developer of Trapster, Pete Tenereillo, said the system, which requires punching in a few keys such as '#1' to submit information to Trapster's database, should comply with laws banning talking on cell phones. The free service can automatically detect location using mobile devices' GPS capabilities or tap their Wi-Fi and get location from a database run by Skyhook Wireless. Police officials that Tenereillo has talked to haven't complained about the service because it inevitably encourages drivers to slow down."

Comments

And you get a gold star now for douchebaggery

[spun]

No, idiot, what I'll get is no tickets and no accidents, plus the happy feeling of knowing I'm not an ass.

You know who gets defensive and insulting when stories like this pop up? Drivers who are secretly ashamed of the fact that they drive like assholes.

Re:And you get a gold star now for douchebaggery

[ribasushi]

You know who gets defensive and insulting when stories like this pop up? Drivers who are secretly ashamed of the fact that they drive like assholes.
By your definition I am a classical asshole. I have close to $1300 in fines within a 4 year period and have been forced to take three "defensive driving" courses to offset penalty points. I perfected my route home work, so a 20 minute drive could be taken in 12 minutes on a good day (it included taking a 90deg right ramp at low boundary of 80mph, coming off a 55mph limited highway). My best stint - in the fall of 2003 I managed to get three tickets in three different states on consecutive Friday(Indiana), Saturday(Ohio) and Monday(Michigan) (to top it off I was physically in Illinois on Sunday, but wasn't that lucky). Do I sound ashamed to you? Didn't think so :)

By the way my "career" abruptly ended when I moved to Germany. Nobody goes after me here (actually my fines now consist of 95% parking tickets). All speed traps are clearly indicated (map24.de, look for white circles along highways). Speed limits are routinely broken by drivers and policemen alike, and nobody really gives a damn. You might get an occasional picture in the mail if you are not careful enough and that's about it. It's just not the same, no cat and mouse game, no thrills, no... nothing really. Although I have to admit, driving to drive, instead of driving to look at your speedometer and at the road at the same time is much more fun. But it gets old and boring after a while... anyway I digress.

Cheers from the lane-shifting asshole, I'll come visit the US soon!

P.S. Driving for 9 years, sedans, SUVs, light (13ton) trucks, consistently 10+ over any speed limit, not a single accident, not a single legitimate violation. Only speeding tickets which are, let's face it, just a convenient tax.

Re:Another way to avoid tickets

[Scudsucker]

When a Hummer rear ends you at 30 mph over the speed limit, I hope a video makes it onto Youtube.