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How To Avoid Speed Traps and Speeding Tickets With Your iPhone

Impact - Water Resistant Otterbox iPhone Case for 3GS.

One reason iPhone addicts love their phones so much is the number of useful "apps" or applications. There are now thousands of iPhone apps, from Marine Navigation to stock trading and cooking apps. But for the lead footed driver there is one new app that may be as useful as a radar detector. Even for careful drivers the Trapster app, from a small startup company of the same name, and the NMobile app offer user updated maps showing the location of hiding police, speed cameras, red light cameras and reported speed traps.

Road Test, The Trapster iPhone app.

Having tested the Trapster app for about two weeks now I can say that it does work, to a point. It depends on the quality of the reports in your area and the number of Trapster users reporting where you live. For most drivers in populated parts of the U.S. this iPhone app really can help to avoid speeding tickets.

Trapster estimates that it has over 100,000 new users, with hundreds, if not thousands more added each week. For each Trapster user that drives by a particular location and updates a location where cops hide, the system becomes more reliable. Using Trapster on a 100 mile section of Interstate highway in Texas, it reported several spots where police frequently hide. In more than one of those spots there was a patrol car. I had to disable the "police often hide here" notification while in the city since it was constantly going off. It is as easy to rate a trap or report live police as it is to change the channel on your radio or adjust your AC, especially if you mount your iPhone in a cradle. Since mine is already in a Wilson iBooster in my car, it is at eye level.

Trapster also lets users report "live police", and this could be the most useful feature when it comes to avoiding speeding tickets. You can choose to enable audio or popup alerts of various types, including red light cameras, speed traps, live police, etc. By participating in the Trapster community you can help the system become even more accurate. Users rate a report of a speed trap with a "thumbs down" or "thumbs up". Traps colored red are shown to be more credible than green ones.

It's only a matter of time before either one of these companies works out a deal with one of the major radar detectors to receive input from Trapster.

While this might seem to diminish the value of it as an iPhone app, I believe there would still be a big appeal to the visual map interface and reporting interface. Will the Trapster or NMobile app help you avoid a speeding ticket? Maybe. By seeing the number of police hiding locations around where you drive it could make you a more aware driver. Since the app is currently free it seems to be a win - win product for drivers.  For more useful iPhone apps see: Time Saving iPhone Apps

N Mobile app   Trapster app Wilson iBooster

Poor iPhone reception? See How to Boost iPhone Reception

Cheers.