From the NY Post:It's a scofflaw's dream - new GPS software that alerts New York City drivers to red-light cameras, speed traps and DWI checkpoints so they can steer clear of cops and traffic tickets.
The PhantomAlert database of law-enforcement locations can be downloaded to a variety of vehicle GPS systems for $10 a month, $40 a year or $100 for life. The database is compiled by drivers, who upload locations as they find them.
The Big Apple database includes all 300 red-light cameras and dozens of police traps. Small icons - such as a martini glass for a DWI checkpoint on some systems - appear on the screen map to alert drivers, while an alarm sounds and a warning message flashes.
The Post test-drove the system in Queens last week, and it identified at least six cameras and three speed traps from 1,000 feet away.
And in other technological news, how about 311 on your cell phone?
13 comments:
Yankee ingenuity. That's why there'll never be a Police State in the USA.
I got one of these and it works pretty well also www.gpsangel.com
Does it bail you out of jail when you run someone down? Learn to drive. I never had one, and I never had a moving violation in all the years I drove.
Red light cams are easily frustrated by a dirty license plate.
BTW: NYC, particularly Manhattan is rapidly becoming the Surveillance State -nearly every block has atleast one building with a camera monitoring the sidewalk.
As the tech gets cheaper, smaller and easier to install, we will eventually find ourselves much like the British,..constantly monitored.
At the risk of sounding paranoid, this sort of ubiquitous surveillance is unhealthy for democracy.
yes shove over cyclists that run red lights and bike on the sidewalk but by all means lets find any way we can for car drivers to break the law and get away with it.
actually, this device helps drivers comply with the law.
actually it doesn't it just helps drivers know where they can't break the law.
"actually, this device helps drivers comply with the law."
??????
What, so they can purposely drive to every red-light cam and DWI checkpoint?
I've always felt and I think some studies show this: that those damnned cameras actually cause accidents by making driviers slam their brakes when the light is "dark yellow." But this is only the lateest technology. You can get a list of red light camers intersections right from DOT's own website. Govt. wants us to know where they are so we don't go thru the lights.
and dont hand me the bullshit you never got lost . please you dont have one because you cant afford one , i have 4 of them one in each car and i love them .
Anonymous said...
Does it bail you out of jail when you run someone down? Learn to drive. I never had one, and I never had a moving violation in all the years I drove.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
and dont hand me the bullshit you never got lost . please you dont have one because you cant afford one , i have 4 of them one in each car and i love them .
I find it faster to use my AAA "Guide to NYC" and the Hagstrom maps.
Honestly, I have rarely gotten lost and have never had one. But to be fair my father was a cabdriver who knew every inch of the five boroughs, all of Long Island, upstate as far as the Catskills and all of Jersey.
I grew up being driven all over and learned the roads. I also always have a complete set of maps at all times and request local maps from AAA which I study before every out-of-state trip.
That being said, my gripe is not with the legitimate use of this as a direction-finder, but with stupid people's use of this technology to evade responsibility.
Down the street from me a women ignored two clearly visible stop signs, the word "stop" freshly painted on the street, and vehicle right-of-way laws to sail into a t-shaped intersection and plow into and kill a motorcylist.
After murdering this person the driver decided to turn a profit by attempting to sue a homeowner who had high hedges. Not hedges blocking view of the stop signs, but hedges that blocked her view of cross traffic, making it more imperative that she edge into the intersection after coming to a complete stop.
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