This is definitely on topic - Trapster

Anyone else use this?

I've been using it for about 6 months or so and it's pretty cool. Live reporting of police locations, construction zones, school zones, etc.

thanks for the reminder... I've got it on my droid but don't use it... got a trip to houston in 2 weeks and good time to use this :)...

I used a similar thing called Marco Popo, but nobody ever reported traps in my area except me, so I gave up.

I use it, works okay.

never had much of a need for it.. I cruise on the highway at 5 over.. that makes me practically invisible to the cops

I use it and a friend is a moderator. Keep in mind that a moderator has to OK your report until you get so many in. Make sure you have a car charger and a mount. Use it as your GPS.

mad_machine wrote: never had much of a need for it.. I cruise on the highway at 5 over.. that makes me practically invisible to the cops

This is what I do in my old age.

mad_machine wrote: never had much of a need for it.. I cruise on the highway at 5 over.. that makes me practically invisible to the cops

This is what I do in my old age.

mad_machine wrote: never had much of a need for it.. I cruise on the highway at 5 over.. that makes me practically invisible to the cops

Plus, you could always leave a little earlier.

I wonder sometimes if people actually figured out how much time they are saving by driving like they do.

Say, my 35 mile drive to work. At the speed limit- 70, it takes me 30 min. I drive the traffic, which is generally 75, it takes 28 min. Drive 80, which is a little swerving in and out, but not too bad- 26:15. Make it an aggressive 90, which requires a LOT of weaving in and out, and even with 3 lanes it's really impossible to avoid some slowdowns- but IF you could do it- 23:20.

So if you drive like a crazy person, weaving in and out of traffic, probably tailgating, risking a lot for fines, etc- you would save less than 5 min over the real traffic flow. That's not a lot of time for the effort.

Good to know accidents and traffic before hand, though. When I know that, I take some slower alternate routes.

Didn't they have a MAJOR information leakage issue?

This is why I have avoided using it.

Off the highway I always drove near the limit.

On the highway I used to go 25 over, then 20 over, a few years later 15 over, another few years and now it's 10 over at the very most. When I finally get my AARP card I'll be a solid 5 under.

In reply to wjones:

Same here. Old age is hell.

alfadriver wrote:

mad_machine wrote: never had much of a need for it.. I cruise on the highway at 5 over.. that makes me practically invisible to the cops

Plus, you could always leave a little earlier. I wonder sometimes if people actually figured out how much time they are saving by driving like they do. Say, my 35 mile drive to work. At the speed limit- 70, it takes me 30 min. I drive the traffic, which is generally 75, it takes 28 min. Drive 80, which is a little swerving in and out, but not too bad- 26:15. Make it an aggressive 90, which requires a LOT of weaving in and out, and even with 3 lanes it's really impossible to avoid some slowdowns- but IF you could do it- 23:20. So if you drive like a crazy person, weaving in and out of traffic, probably tailgating, risking a lot for fines, etc- you would save less than 5 min over the real traffic flow. That's not a lot of time for the effort. Good to know accidents and traffic before hand, though. When I know that, I take some slower alternate routes.

We did this on our recent trip to Nashville. I hauled through OK, then through the eastern portion of Arkansas (tons of officer's between the OK/AR border until you get about 35-40 miles outside of Little Rock) then again east of Memphis.

I think we shaved something like 32 minutes in 8 hours of driving.

Hardly worth the rist.

alfadriver wrote: .... you would save less than 5 min over the real traffic flow. That's not a lot of time for the effort.

It doesn't seem like a lot of time... but try to hold your breath for that long.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

alfadriver wrote: .... you would save less than 5 min over the real traffic flow. That's not a lot of time for the effort.

It doesn't seem like a lot of time... but try to hold your breath for that long.

Yes, I forget that getting do your destination 5 min faster is equivallent to breathing.

OR, I set my alarm clock 5 min faster, if it's that important. If it's REALLY that important, I'll do 10min earlier. If you need to be 10 min earlier, you need to average almost 117 mph....

I use other people and my eyes. If there's any traffic at all, 99 times out of 100 you see cars tapping their brakes 1/2 mile up ahead. If I miss the cop in that case, I wasn't paying attention to be driving that fast in the first place.

If there's no traffic I just set the cruise at 5-7 over. If someone passess me going faster but not stupidly fast, I trail them from 1/2 mile back.

If there's heavy traffic I plant it in whichever lane is moving the smoothest and catch up on my audio books.

alfadriver wrote: Yes, I forget that getting do your destination 5 min faster is equivallent to breathing.

It isn't directly equivalent but 5 minutes is a long time to be in a fire, late for a meeting or choking on a piece of sammich.

Leaving earlier is exactly what the man wants you to do... stealing more of your personal time. I say compress the drive by going as fast as possible at all times. My 20yr old car can easily sustain 140mph for as long as necessary and swerving would not be necessary if you people would get on board with the program.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

alfadriver wrote: Yes, I forget that getting do your destination 5 min faster is equivallent to breathing.

It isn't directly equivalent but 5 minutes is a long time to be in a fire, late for a meeting or choking on a piece of sammich. Leaving earlier is exactly what the man wants you to do... stealing more of your personal time. I say compress the drive by going as fast as possible at all times. My 20yr old car can easily sustain 140mph for as long as necessary and swerving would not be necessary if you people would get on board with the program.

Or you can live closer to work, if the time is THAT important.

I'm pretty sure I can find 10 min of TV time to give up.

alfadriver wrote: Plus, you could always leave a little earlier. I wonder sometimes if people actually figured out how much time they are saving by driving like they do. Say, my 35 mile drive to work. At the speed limit- 70, it takes me 30 min. I drive the traffic, which is generally 75, it takes 28 min. Drive 80, which is a little swerving in and out, but not too bad- 26:15. Make it an aggressive 90, which requires a LOT of weaving in and out, and even with 3 lanes it's really impossible to avoid some slowdowns- but IF you could do it- 23:20. So if you drive like a crazy person, weaving in and out of traffic, probably tailgating, risking a lot for fines, etc- you would save less than 5 min over the real traffic flow. That's not a lot of time for the effort. Good to know accidents and traffic before hand, though. When I know that, I take some slower alternate routes.

Ya know, I never really speed to get anywhere faster. I speed because I just enjoy driving fast. Honestly, If I could drive 25 over and have it take an extra 20min to get somewhere, that would be okay by me.

Having said that, I usually cruise at 5-10 over. I save my hooning for short, intense applications when I can garner the most fun in the least time and distance, thereby endangering the fewest lives. it usually involves being sideways on public (empty) streets.

Duke wrote: I used a similar thing called Marco Popo, but nobody ever reported traps in my area except me, so I gave up.

Best app name for spotting cops - EVAR.

I typically drive 10 over but have had some issues in the sticks with even that small of an amount of speeding.

I like this app's ability to help folks get around the mobile road tax.

alfadriver wrote: Or you can live closer to work, if the time is THAT important.

I am waiting for technology to allow me to use worm holes. Until then I will do my best to exploit the velocity part of the equation and assume distance to be a constant. :)

On a long distance drive, I feel like it makes it worth it. I wish there were long-distance passes that let you drive 100 for cross-country trips. It could potentially cut down an 18 hour trip down to about 12-13 hours, making what's a stretch for a day into something quite comfortable in a day.

Just the way I have always been. even in the heyday of the 55mph national limit.. I would do 5 over. The only times I have been caught speeding were when I got caught in an area where I thought the speed limit was faster than what it was.

Flying cars should solve a lot of these problems.

Trapster is still pretty awesome.