

CopFind - collaborative project to log speed traps - kkim
http://copfind.com/

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edw519
Why do I have to register to use?

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quickpost
This is spam. Take a look at where their 404 pages redirect:
<http://copfind.com/asdf>

goes to:

<http://myspacegateway.com/>

I wouldn't register... seems really sketchy.

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nickb
How do you (or whoever runs this site) deal with constantly changing
locations? How do you deal with time component?

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zhyder
Does this pass the "do no evil", or the "improve users' lives" tests? Unknown
speed traps are arguably good for us.

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ajmoir
Arguable how?

To my mind they are nothing but revenue generation.

A visible speed trap is far more defensible. Not vague warnings but highly
visible specific identification.

Even better put these speed traps where they are most likely to save lives not
in locations were they are most likely to catch excess speed. e.g. put them
outside schools not on the freeway, put them at the entrance to towns not a
mile outside.

The speed trap should ticket everyone in excess of the limit. Currently the
police use them and discard enormous amount of minor infringements
concentrating on the relatively few high speed infringements. This is masking
the true nature of the data i.e. the speed limit is too low. Teh correct
course of action is to raise the speed limits in certain areas e.g. freeways
and rural.

Lastly, tickets by camera should not be part of a police forces performance
reviews, they should be noted but not used to justify or discredit anything
about the forces performance.

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zhyder
Of the traffic tickets I and my friends have received, _most_ were useful in
actually reminding us to drive more carefully. Occasionally you hear of
someone getting an unfair ticket: I think that's the exception rather than the
rule.

I hate getting tickets as much as anyone else, and I've gotten my share of
them. But I still don't use radar detectors, and won't use this service.

"A visible speed trap is far more defensible." As long as the speed limit is
clearly visible, why should the trap itself be visible?

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ajmoir
If you are happy with the posted speed limits and see the police as only law
enforcement then nothing I have to say will make a difference.

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zhyder
Yes looks like we disagree on that, hence our differing conclusions. I believe
the speed traps do more good than harm.

You have to admit that this service's tag line "find cops before they find
you" does make the user sound like a criminal :). They've gotta change that.

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daniel-cussen
Startups are getting pretty marginal.

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rokhayakebe
Good idea, Bad technology, Bad implementation. For this to add value it must
me something totaly mobile. It has to be a small GPS app that user can have on
their phone, that detects their proximity to one of these spot and send them a
text message or gives them a call.

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tocomment
Or what if you could tell it routes you normally take and at what times, and
it will email or text message you if there is cop activity. Maybe you could
just subscribe to a road or a location?

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nirs
Even better: your phone will check for cops on your way, using GPS. When you
locate a cop, you can report him in real time, and someone driving 200m behind
you, using the same site, will get an alert.

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tocomment
Phones don't really have GPS though, right? And there's no easy way to write
software that uses it even if it is there.

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nirs
The phone network can locate your phone - so your phone can also know its
location even without GPS. If your phone knows your location, and is connected
to the web, it can work.

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tocomment
If you can tell me how to do this using only a website (no phone specific
programming) it would dovetail nicely into a startup idea I'm considering.

I figured it would require getting users to install my software on their phone
somehow, dealing with phone companies, and learning something called
"Symbian".

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ereldon
quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

