Police chief denounces ‘cowardly’ iPhone users monitoring speed traps.
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.”
Read: Make Money
The new technology streams to i-Phones 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. The greater D.C. area has 290 red-light and speed cameras — comprising nearly 10 percent of all traffic cameras in the U.S., according to estimates by a camera-tracking database called the POI Factory.
PhantomAlert mimics radar detectors — which are outlawed in D.C. and Virginia — by alerting drivers of nearby enforcement “points of interest” via global positioning system devices. PhantomAlert keeps up to date on traffic enforcement through its users, who contribute information online.
Photo radar tickets generated nearly $1 billion in revenues for D.C. during fiscal years 2005 to 2008. In the current fiscal year, Montgomery County expects to make $29 million from its red light and speed cameras. Lanier said efforts to outlaw the software would be too difficult. She said, “with the Internet and all the new technology, it’s almost impossible to stop the flow of information.”
Isn’t counter surveillance great? Since I started traveling in New Mexico, “The Land of Entrapment” I’ve found this app is worth the price of the phone itself!
Don’t them mean law enforcement meant to general local revenue?
bah, should be generate, not general.
Ahem, here is one of those evil web site/ software combos now: http://trapster.com. It is totally cross platform yo!
huh, if they slow down before they get to the camera then they are not “breaking the law”, this is no different from seeing a speed sign.
Any kind of automated system like this is bs, most cops I know are more likely to give a verbal warning unless you’re being a dick about it or a habitual offender
“It’s designed to circumvent law enforcement — law enforcement that is designed specifically to save lives.”
Won’t people slowing down near speed traps and stopping at red lights that they know have cameras on them save lives? She is crying about lost revenue from tickets. She doesn’t care about saving lives.
If this technology is based on user submitted data, how hard would it be for the police to submit false traps so that drivers are more likely to follow these laws.
Or if it is just a cash grab on their parts, why not just market a similar app which would have more accurate info
BS from the PD never ends.
What iPhone app?
PhantomAlert isn’t for iPhones
Texas makes no pretense about the revenue generating aspects of traffic stops. There are several laws in place statewide that defy reason, but only seem to be in place to prevent lost revenue.
-it is illegal to flash your lights at oncoming cars (high or low beams) to warn them as they’re approaching a speed trap (just the old-timer’s way of doing the same thing as this iPhone app)
-it used to be illegal for unmarked cars to make traffic stops, but isn’t anymore. it was illegal in the first place because in the 70’s and 80’s there were serial rapists who would stop women on state highways by pursuing them in non-police vehicles with flashing red and blue lights on them. they rescinded the ban because too many people were getting out of tickets due to claims of entrapment by unmarked cars. rather than abandon the practice, they changed the law.
-it used to be mandatory that, if requested, the cop would HAVE to show you the radar display showing time and speed indication to prove on the spot that you were speeding. apparently it was to prevent unscrupulous cops from making spurious stops AND to keep them from locking in a speed reading and charing non-violators with a violation to meet their quota. I think they got rid of that about three years ago.
-there are roads in many small towns where the speed decreases by 15-20 mph for a 500 ft stretch of road, and then jumps back up to a normal highway speed.
funny thing is…they pay so much attention to speeders because they bring back the higher dollar ticket amounts, but they could easily surpass their current revenues by ticketing all the morons who violate the lesser laws (center turn lane is NOT for merging into traffic, turn signals must be used to change lanes, etc.)
If the issue is in fact safety then having people aware of enforcement that makes them slow down and behave (at least temporarily) seems like a better choice then letting people think they can get away with it and then ticketing them after the fact.
An intesting side note is that DC police officers that receive speed camera or red light tickets must pay them if they can’t prove via the daily dispatch log that they were responding to an emergency. That makes the cameras seem a little more fair.
However, in Montgomery County Maryland, an adjacent jurstiction, a judge recently threw out several police officers speed camera tickets when they claimed that “speeding is part of a police officers job” and that it was too much trouble to remmber if they were responding to an emergency when they received the speed camera ticket.
http://tinyurl.com/create.php
Since we are a government of the people, by the people, for the people, it would appear with the red light and speeding cameras we are preying on ourselves. Like Pogo said “we have met the enemy and he is us.”
Actually, what they need to do is have two cameras that are a couple of miles from each other, and then judge your speed by the time it takes to travel that distance. And yes, I support the speed cameras but only because I think it will lead to more reasonable speed limits as people are actually forced to follow the rule of law.
“Won’t people slowing down near speed traps and stopping at red lights that they know have cameras on them save lives?”
Yes, but only when they know they’re approaching a trap. Everywhere else, people will step hard on the gas and risk lives. The idea of the traps is to keep drivers within the speed limits because they never know if they’re being watched.
I would LOVE, LOVE to see people run as fast as they can if that would pose a risk to their own lives only. I would look for news of car crashes first thing in the morning and laugh out loud at every moran who retired themselves from the world prematurely. But these assholes usually take someone else with them, so speed traps FTW.
BTW, the crying baby picture used by Mr. “I Write For A Blog And I’m Not Afraid To Use It” works both ways. All you have to do is obey the traffic regulations that have been put in place for a reason. If you don’t violate them, you don’t get tickets. Easy peasy.
So stop whining about tickets and traps. Waaaah! Waaaah! Waaaah! Just grow up and see how surprisingly good it feels.
There is no such thing, as a bad driver. It is like saying, someone is “a bad walker”. There are however, bad people. Automobiles merely provide these people with an opportunity for self expression.
The US only has 2,900 red light cameras??
And #13, you do understand right, that the majority of speed and redlight cameras are placed where there is no general risk, or in danger spots right?
They are mostly installed in areas and along roads where people generally drive a bit faster and rarely get into accidents, or just after a speed change sign is placed and you haven’t slowed down to match it yet.
The cops would really be in a pickle if everyone obeyed the law. Good thing there are plenty of people on the south end of the bell curve to feed the maw of “justice”.
#13. So Luc, if I obey the laws which I do, and I am stopped at a DUI checkpoint where I am treated as though I have been drinking and driving (which I do not) …..your good with that? And people wonder why we are losing our liberties on a daily basis. Look in the mirror, and admire the sheep that is staring back at you.
BTW, If you don’t like the blog, or a particular editor. Leave, no one will miss you.
#17 What a lame excuse. If you obey the laws as you claim, you should have no beef with speed traps. Being stopped at DUI checkpoints has nothing to do with speed traps. Or are these speed traps robots with legs that chase you and pull you over? See how your argumentation doesn’t hold any water.
Yeah, tell me to go away. Whether I do or don’t have a point and you grasp at straws doesn’t matter at all. Nice way to oppose authoritarianism.
The cops can fritz the system by posting reports that they are everywhere. It should be a great way to slow down people with chronic lead foot.
The people that don’t slow down should still provide an adequate revenue stream.
Luc the problem is when they aren’t honest about it. As much as I diskile speed enforcement, youre right that it is the law.
When most of us refer to speed traps we mean unscrupulous situations setup by the police to entrap people.
Hard to see speed limit signs. Sudden, severe, and temporary speed limit changes. Basically situations where its obvious the object is not safety, but to trick people for revenue purposes.
Stupid politicians making bad laws that force citizens to be criminals…wonder when it will end?
The problem is that speed traps are not put in place to improve public safety; they are put in place to increase local revenue. Thus, you get nonsense like clandestine speed limit changes (55 for 30 miles, then 1 mile of 50, then back to 55. Guess where the cop will be) etc. If the government(s) really cared about keeping speeds down, they’d mandate governors (heh) on cars.
“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.”
…bullshit…
Not anymore. If we’re talking about evading a speeding ticket, then we’re talking about evading the random driving tax. We all must know by now that police that stake out speeders have quotas and ticket speeders as a revenue stream for local governments. I mean, seriously, we MUST all know this by now.
If it was all about safety, don’t build cars that go over the speed limit!!!
In reference to using the app to evade sobriety checkpoints… if you can successfully use the iPhone app in order to find a different route then you are not drunk enough to need a cab.
I have reason to feel justified in what I think since I have friends who are state troopers and they freely admit what it’s all about. Amazingly, governments have increased the size of their law enforcement workforce over the years, which will naturally mean more cops to catch you speeding AND more motivation to fine you because they need to pay all these cops who are fining you.
It’s a racket and we tax payers and non-government / law enforcement are the rubes.
#18 Luc you’ve got to be kidding me… “If you obey the laws as you claim, you should have no beef with speed traps.” So I suppose you’re OK with random searches of your property because you have nothing to hide?
And what we’re talking about here aren’t speed traps but photo radar. Speed traps are real Police officers pulling you over and issuing tickets, photo radar takes a nice picture and you get a fine in the mail. One of these systems actually stops the speeder, the other generates revenue.
#26, Aki,
So you are fine with the murderer that also makes a claim that the police tricked him into not getting away.
What you and the rest of the the inconsiderate ijits around here don’t understand is, IT IS ILLEGAL TO SPEED! This shouldn’t be about how best to evade the law. If you don’t like the law, CHANGE IT!
The police don’t decide what the speed limit on a certain section of road is. That is done by the Highway Department under guidelines from the Department of Transportation where the whole intent is to harmonize all traffic laws. If there is a sudden decrease in speed for no apparent reason, look for a school, a lot of pedestrian traffic, or dangerous stretch of highway.
Knowing there is a stretch of highway that may be patrolled or have a camera should not be the determining factor in anyone obeying the traffic laws.
Currently we pay over $1200 a year for car insurance. And yes that is cheap. In contrast, we pay less than $500 a year for gas, and bitch like hell it is so expensive.
One of the major reasons we pay so much for insurance is because of all the silly people that believe they have some constitutional, god given right to decide for themselves what the speed limit or level of intoxication should be.
And they justify this with some silly excuse that the traffic laws are meant to raise money.
#28
Your argument skills amaze me (honestly).
The ability to not only compare but to make a strong argument that we aren’t paying enough in gasoline prices – as compared with the promise to pay $500,000* when you hurt someone while driving a car – is quite a feat.
*and that’s just the liability coverage. can’t forget about repairing all that damaged property that occurred in the accident. And of course, your medical bills are also paid for as well as that rental car you get to use while everything gets fixed. And best of all, your policy will do all of that even if the other guy (who doesn’t’ have insurance) is at fault.
Maybe it’s not such a fair price comparison after all?
#28, Fusion has an almost cult-like reverence for statutory law, but any time he feels the feds should create a new program or interject itself into people’s lives to achieve some goal he supports, whether or not the Constitution allows for it or not, he’s more than willing to just ignore, or “reinterpret” it.