Laughably large Red Light Camera Detector proves that you should just drive safely
By Darren Murph 
posted October 15th 2009 2:38AM
posted October 15th 2009 2:38AM
[Via NaviGadget]
posted October 15th 2009 2:38AM
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just drive? we dont need tech to tell us how to do everything
Apparently we do.... o_0
You can download the trapster app for free with your Blackberry or iPhone!
True and it has push notifications of speed traps as well. Seems like a much better option than this.
Kind of stupid. Why spend $200 so you can risk going to the hospital or morgue with out being caught by the cops?
6000 Camera Locations in its database... laughable.
Fuck, there's probably 6,000 in the greater New York City area.
Or you could just buy a much cheaper (and better looking) Garmin or TomTom and add in red light and speed camera POIs with alerts
Or you could buy this, pay annually for a significantly inferior product, and look like a huge tool in the process.
Just my $0.02
I didn't realize that Garmin and TomTom had caught up with Asian satnavs in that regard. Kudos to them. You still don't have DMB. ;-)
I'm australia with a pretty cheap Navman s100 that is a couple of years old that contains all the red light and fixed speed cameras for the country. I'm sure i can pay to update the database every year but what's the point?
The models above mine even have 3d building landmarks rendered onto the map in realtime and the ability to do subscribe to traffic monitoring.
What is the point of this device?
Or, it could be like here in South Korea where our GPS units tell us where the cameras are with no subscription fees!
6,000!? I probably have that many in my county.
Can someone tell me why red light camera warnings are needed? I mean, it's not like they're hidden or anything, they're at... the intersection! I could understand if it were a radar detector to let you know where a hidden cop might be or something not obvious, but regardless of whether or not a camera is there, if the light is red you still stop. I doubt that anyone makes a habit of busting red lights as opposed to doing 10-20mph over the speed limit, so what am I missing here as to the value of one of these things?
Good point!
It's not like you would look at this device and find out there is *no* camera, and then decide to run the red light...
If I do happen to run a yellow/red light... I'm not really worried about a camera... I'm worried about HITTING someone!
Are you kidding? Red Light Cameras are essential! I was once nearly killed for driving normal through the green and 20 metres before passing the lights, a car ran the red on the other side.
So if i had been going any faster then i'd be dead.
Psy - I think you missed the point. Neither I, nor Mr Scrip commented on the usefulness of red light cameras, but red light camera WARNINGS. After all, if the light is red, you stop regardless of whether some box warns you that a camera might be there or not. I still fail to see the point of the warning devices since it would, or at least should, not affect your routing or driving in any way. Who in their right mind goes, oh no! Red light camera there, I should take a different route so I can blast through reds and not get caught!
I believe that the term "red light camera" is a PC term to sell a product that will notify you of all traffic cameras, whether they be at intersections, on the highway, or just sprouted up randomly throughout your city/park/neighbourhood.
They don't want to be too obvious like I just had to be. It would be nice though, to just be able to say out loud:
"Hey! I'm going to buy a perfectly legal product to protect myself against a quasi-legal spy operation!"
Such are the times, unfortunately.
Remember, this unit not only reports Red Light Camera, but also Speed cameras! Its also not very big - look at the description - 1.6" display, look at the picture and the rest of the unit is not that much bigger. GPS units are bricks compared to this!
Wow, you guys actually think red light cameras IMPROVE safety? All research I've seen points to an increase in collisions at intersections, because of panic-breaking, when they could have safely made it through the yellow. I've had friends get tickets for turning right on red, and even going through the intersection while the light was yellow--you know, like how the driving handbook tells you it's okay to do?
Blatant red light running is very dangerous, but I don't think they should be legally allowed to shorten the yellow-light time to raise additional red light camera ticket revenue. Another study I had read indicated that if they simply increased the yellow-light time, and the time between the red-to-green for cross-traffic, that accidents went down some ungodly percentage.
It's all about safety though, right? no, can't be about the money...
I don't really care about Red Light cameras because they can help prosecuting hit and run drunk drivers in intersection crashes (like the one who hit my mothers and broke her spine). However, I do hate the cameras they are starting to put on the interstate. Not only are they inconsistent they violate basic human rights in the US and our privacy. Our state outsources the operation of these systems to a city in Canada. They record and capture the license plates, and go through a system in Canada who dispatches them to the proper authorities. Our taxes go to pay for this service and 40% of the ticket fine goes to said company. The legal process on such a local level should not be held by a for-profit organization. It's a pretty disgusting system and circumvents the right to face one's accuser and prevents one from defending themselves against it. There is nothing stopping law enforcement or the outsourced company from sending out false information from these 24 hour traffic cams if they feel they need some extra cash flow. Not only that but they don't capture the drivers face just the plate and I'm quite sure you can't ticket the owner of the car just the driver (in some states like mine where insurance is also a legal requirement but goes on a driver basis and not a car basis as it should).
I feel the opposite about red light cameras, I knew a intersection I was approaching had a camera and was ready for the lights to change and when they did I stopped and did so. The person behind me didn't know and decided to run the lights. Long story short, my city car wasn't much of a match for their accelerating S-Class
well, i don't think that not being photographed in public is a basic human right, but i do agree that speed cameras are crap. for me it's the whole guilty until proven innocent thing. if my brother comes and takes my car without asking and gets busted by a speed camera, why should i have to go to court to prove my innocence just because a machine made a mistake? the worst part is of course that it's just a source of revenue for the county/state. it's just another tax.
On top of everything you said, red light cameras do not increase safety and are not used for this purpose.
You know what makes people stop at red lights? Longer yellows. The studies show this convincingly. But you know what they often do when they install red light cameras? They actually SHORTEN the yellow light to create more violations and more profit even at the expense of knowingly causing an increase in rear end collisions from people slamming on their brakes to avoid the camera. In fact, in several cases cities and private for profit ticket operators have shortened the yellows so short in trying to ramp up tickets that they've run afoul of legal minimums and ended up having large numbers of tickets overturned - of course, do you think they sent refunds to all the people who'd just paid the so-called "fine" created by this trap? Yeah, right.
Red light cameras are nothing but a tax, and one that in many cases actively harms public safety in the process of collection. Just goes to show - if you think the government is really looking out for your welfare, think again.
I said nothing about redlight cameras increasing safety or anything of the sort. I just think they can serve a purpose but I don't personally like them. They have helped me in a civil suit against a drunk driver. All I'm saying is we should be more outraged at the speed cameras on highways.
The only purpose they serve is revenue generation.
it looks like a toilet stool or barcode scanner.
Toilet stool?
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/kanazawa/kashimaya/toiletgaijin.jpg
Does one really need an alert to tell them to stop at a red light?!
Any time I drive by cameras, I always let them know they are number 1 in my life(AKA Give em the bird). It's pretty bad when you are monitored "for your protection" practically everywhere you go. I think we all need to start a paintball war against cameras. We can show them how much we want and care about being watched. I'm just so sick of it all. Enough said.
phantomalert.com
Soon to be available for all of the smart phones.
There aren't any in my area... I added 2, but the website needs more subscribers!! :o
I think this product is aimed for sixteen wheeled rigs.As a professional driver( i drive a car) it is common to see rigs flirt with yellows rather than having to start from 1st gear again.Or perhaps the load isnt adjusted for the brakes! Probably though not because of the additional smog they might create and traffic blockage.But realize theyre pros more likely than surly brutes and these misdemeanors are completed with care.P.S. if your back wheels are behind the stop line when the camera snaps its prolly 100 bucks you can kiss goodbye.
both times I've been caught my front wheels were behind the line in the first picture, D'oh.
Speeding, sure - but why on earth do you want to skip red lights??
I don't know if I associate safer driving with red light cameras. They usually promote more timid drivers who are more often to make more mistakes. Red light cameras also lead to congestion and backup. They do more harm then good.
LoL. How about you just LOOK where you're driving?? You've got eyes for something!
...stupid stuff people think they need these days -.-
so i guess traffic cameras don't get moved around to random locations in the US?
they're permanently mounted. Usually at large busy intersections. That would be a good idea though to just install the mounts at every intersection and move the cameras... Slightly more cost though which is at a premium since the systems stop paying for themselves as people realize they shouldn't run that light.
Actually not true - there are places where they mount them, e.g., in vehicles, and move them around. I've seen it in D.C. (thank g-d I don't live there - they have cameras EVERYWHERE).
Meh, my Passport 9500ix GPS-based radar detector does this in a waaaaay smaller package - in addition to warning me about the piggies!
Bangbus might find use for this, you know, when they..... Oh never mind.
Why does it need a screen? this is ridiculous.
Here's one for $99 and no annual fee.
Looks to be about the size of a hockeypuck.
www.gpsangel.com
The device isn't that big, come on, that's a 1.6" screen. 3-3/4 x 2-1/2 x 1-3/4" (LxWxH bounding box, I assume)
The form factor isn't sleek, but if you'r going to put that on your dash, you don't want the screen pointing up at the window, now do you?
And think about it- yes it's long, but any device that warns you about red lights should be able to withstand extreme braking forces without falling over.
They need to make a cellphone-user detector so we could avoid that jacka$$ who's behind or ahead of us yacking or texting on his/her phone.
I drive 5 below everywhere, I'm doing my part to put these 'safety' programs into the red.
It's about driver discretion. Most people are terrible drivers that ignore signs and proper driving laws..including running red lights. I'm not so much a fan of traffic cameras, but they do serve a good purpose occasionally for certain situations. We really should just pay more attention instead of sexting, smoking, and talking on the phone while driving, rather than trying to bend the law with stupid expensive unneccessary devices.
Now I concentrate on what I do instead of searching for my phone to read text messages. Drivesafe.ly text to speech engine helps me not to type text messages.