What do you think of the practice that motorists have of warning each other that there are upcoming speed traps? When you see an oncoming car flashing its lights at you do you think there must be a hidden speed trap, and do you suddenly slow down? Do you warn other motorists if you see police waiting to catch speeders?
Well, if you do engage in the process, getting and giving those warnings just got a whole lot easier. All you need is a cell phone or a personal digital assistant to warn about speed traps, red light cameras and other �gonna -get-a-ticket� threats.
Trapster is a new system, developed by Pete Tenereillo, that sends audio alerts to you on your mobile device when the coppers are near. The database keeps track of all of that information, holding it from an hour (for cops waiting at a speed trap) to almost permanently (for red-light cameras). Hitting #-1 (pound-one) on your keypad will alert the database that you spotted something that could cause a ticket. Because of the simple key combo, this input complies with most hands-free laws and bans related to driving with a cell phone.
So far, Tenereillo says that the police officers that he has spoken with don�t have any objections to the system, because it should cause motorists to slow down and drive more carefully, something that the officers want, in spite of all of the rest of us thinking they might be just out to get us with quotas.
Users of the system can choose the type of alerts that they wish to receive. Users can also rate the alerts on accuracy, to help prevent people just having fun or even law enforcement from flooding the system with false reports. The better your rating, the more credence the system will have for your alerts.
The Trapster service is free and can be used with many different mobile devices.
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
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