Posted on 07/16/2009 5:04:30 AM PDT by KRyanJames
Area drivers looking to outwit police speed traps and traffic cameras are using an iPhone application and other global positioning system devices that pinpoint the location of the cameras.
That has irked D.C. police chief Cathy Lanier, who promised her officers would pick up their game to counteract the devices, which can also help drivers dodge sobriety checkpoints.
"I think that's the whole point of this program," she told The Examiner. "It's designed to circumvent law enforcement -- law enforcement that is designed specifically to save lives."
The new technology streams to iPhones and global positioning system devices, sounding off an alarm as drivers approach speed or red-light cameras.
Lanier said the technology is a "cowardly tactic" and "people who overly rely on those and break the law anyway are going to get caught" in one way or another.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
I’ve been thinking about getting an iphone 3G S. this may have sold me!
Thanks for the post.
“Imagine the poor guy that has to have sex with that.”
What makes you thin it’s a GUY...
I’m not into tech toys, especially cell phones, because I need to wear my reading glasses to see them, but the iPhone is some cool stuff. Several of my interns have them, and I’m kind of jealous.
Not entirely accurate. They do increase rear end collisions when some people react to the shortened amber lights and the person behind them don't. Most locales shorten the amber lights when revenues are not up to their expectations.
There are very bad accidents at lights. They are the dreaded T-bones which are usually caused by distracted or impaired drivers blowing through red lights they did not see, not someone sneaking through a stale amber light or someone lawfully completing a left turn when traffic clears after the light has changed. I don't see how the red light cameras can fix stupid.
Uh, the shooter is dead, guys. you can come out from behind the tree.
"Gilbert's bill to permit guns on VA campuses never made it past the subcommittee level, mainly because it was opposed by the state's universities and by the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police.
Yep. I just notice the date too, and remember this same article some time ago.
7 Jul 2009 | Haley Peterson
I wish AT&T would use their cell phone hopping data to detect traffic jams and help their iPhone subscribers find the fastest route to their destination. A cell phone company can determine average traffic speeds by the check-in activity of cell phones traveling between cells. Most everyone is already carrying a traffic reporter on them. It’s just the data goes unused. I’ve been using Google maps for traffic data but the quality is unreliable and imprecise.
Control Freak. She wants to be head mommy.
Don't ever drive through Phoenix. We have high-tech cameras every 2 miles on the I-10. Then we have folks who drive through from LA going 90mph who then run up on the back of a local who just slammed on his brakes for the speed camera - and you can imagine what happens next.
If the intent of a speed trap is to get people to slow down, then what’s the Chief’s problem?
Oh, yeah - the lost revenue.
If cops spent their time driving around in unmarked cars (and normal cars, not the unmarked cars that cops usually drive that scream “Hey! I’m a cop in an unmarked car!”) and pulling over idiots who are doing EVERYTHING BUT paying attention to their driving, thus causing traffic backups and accidents, less people would feel the need to speed. I am sick of slow moving traffic going 15 mph BELOW the posted speed and hitting every light red because idiots are playing with their cell phones, talking, reading books, etc! When *I* get the chance to get around these pinheads so I can go the speed limit, you better believe I put the pedal to the metal to get around them. Come and get me copper!
Of course, doing the above requires WORK and not just sitting on the side of the road, pointing their gun thingie to entrap the taxpayers on their way to work, while enjoying a dozen doughnuts and a quart of coffee. And we know the red light cams are just a way for the municipality to pad their bank account.
Travis,
I spent a fair amount of time fooling around with an iphone 3G S at the ATT store last week.
one of the things that greatly impressed me was the screen size, and my ability to read the screen WITHOUT my reading glasses. text, maps, “keyboard”, etc. I could see just fine. also, typing was no problem at all.
big help if you are driving. I am too stubborn to get bifocals.
BTW I use 1.5 for reading glasses, 2.5 for close inspection work.
Yeah, that’s definitely one o fthe things i like, I CAN SEE IT!
My current rock of a phone has no real gimmicks I use, but I know how to get to the gimmicks I do use (camera/video) either through process memory or the voice recognition feature.
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
iPhones DO use Google Maps to show traffic congestion... but your idea sounds like a credible thing to do. BUT, I am not sure I want Apple, AT&T, or any body to have the ability to ping my location, direction, and speed because of the GPS built into my phone!
"Not sure?!" What am I saying? I trust Apple far more than I trust AT&T to not provide individual data to anyone... but I STILL DO NOT WANT THEM TO HAVE THIS CAPABILITY!
You said — I’d like to know why it’s okay for troopers to consistently break the speed limit when they’re off duty.
—
Well, back in the “double-nickel days”, when they first instituted the 55 MPH speed limit everywhere, I thought it was crazy and idiotic. But, apparently the government knew better (it would appear...).
And so one time I saw a Sheriff’s patrol car going along at about 15 MPH faster than the speed limit with no lights on. And he zoomed past me. I watched him for a bit, thinking he would turn on the lights, but he didn’t.
So, at that point, I had it...
I pushed the pedal to the metal and tore after him... LOL...
I got up behind him and beeped and flashed my lights and got him to pull over (the one and only time I ever “pulled over a cop” ...).
He was so flustered that I pulled him over, that when he got out of his car, he forgot to put his patrol car in park and it started rolling off... LOL...
He jumped back in, put it into park and the patrol car lurched backward and forward as he did that. Then he came over to me and I got out of the car and came over to him and I said that I figured that since he didn’t have his lights on and he didn’t appear to be going anywhere “on call” that he should be following the speed limit just like I had to. He could tell I was mad about it and that I would probably file a complaint about it.
So, he kinda started talking a bit and then said I could come over to the station look around and take a ride out on patrol with him sometime. I figured I got the point across and then said I would see about doing that and just left it alone. I never followed up on his offer and didn’t file any further complaint (other than what I did on the spot). And that was the end of that one...
As I said, the one and only time I ever pulled over a cop... LOL...
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