DISCLAIMERS:

1ST-IF YOU ARE USING TRAPSTER, CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD!

2^ND– TRAPSTER IS AMAZINGLY ADDICTIVE

You see THE MAN and flash your lights to oncoming traffic, letting others know there’s a cop with a radar gun waiting ahead.  Countless times the friendly gesture has saved me a ticket and I’m always happy to return the favor to unknown motorists headed into harm’s way.

A  phone app called TRAPSTER  does away with flicking headlights and more, letting you know in real time where the speed traps, speed cameras, stop light enforced “no turn on red” signs are, etc.

“Trapster is an application for getting enforcement points and road hazards alerts on your Blackberry, iPhone, Nokia, Android, Windows Mobile, Palm Pre, Garmin, or TomTom device. We crowdsource speed traps from across the globe, so you can avoid unnecessary speeding tickets. Don’t forget to check back for news, feature releases, and app demos.”

So what do the cops think?

“Police chief denounces ‘cowardly’ iPhone users monitoring speed traps”. Washington Examiner.

(Dave’s note: which is kind of like bitching about the “cowardly” procedures we have for screening people at the airport).

But law enforcement is interested in slowing traffic down, and whether they do it by writing tickets or social sharing does it via TRAPSTER, the net effect is the same, and it costs money to put cops on the street holding speed guns.

And maybe that’s it.  Maybe TRAPSTER is going to slow people down in a way law enforcement has been trying to do for years.

About  disclaimer #1; 

Trapster hack may have exposed millions of iPhone, Android passwords

Up to 10 million e-mail addresses and passwords possibly pilfered from speed trap service

By Gregg Keizer January 20, 2011 03:33 PM E 

That’s the bad news.  The GOOD news is that you only need to register with your email address to REPORT a speed trap, not just to use the service.  So if use it passively like I do, forget my earlier warning.

Actively using the service to report locations?  Change your password!

I AM STILL COUNTING ON THE GOOD WILL OF FELLOW TRAVELERS, SO KEEP FLASHING THOSE HEADLIGHTS.

See you on down the road,

Dave