Novus Mini Coyote thwarts the speed camera
Social networking for speeding drivers
A new gadget aims to beat that scourge of the high-speed motorist, the speed camera - and the Mini Coyote works purely on the goodwill of your fellow drivers.
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Stick the Mini Coyote on your dashboard and you join a community of users, all able to warn of upcoming speed cameras, especially the hard to track mobile cams. Hit the 'Coyote' button and your location (and that of the camera) are relayed to a central unit, sending out that updated info to your fellow motorists in just three seconds. A warning is given to any nearby vehicle, showing the speed limit and your current speed. You slow down, no points on the licence, everyone (except the law) is a winner.
So is it actually legal? Well, technically it is an offence to warn a fellow driver of an upcoming speed trap, but with so few successful prosecutions, you'll be seriously unlucky to get caught and banged to rights. But you might want to think about the moral issues too - speed limits are usually there for a reason.
Novus GPS (via The Times)
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By freude09
6|12|2008 06:32
cool gadget! it's nice to have a gadget like this one... ~<a href="http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/lp/0809/save-gas.html">save gas</a>
By Crimea
14|11|2008 17:32
"...speed limits are usually there for a reason."
Yes, but the reason for most of the limits is decades out of date. Cars no longer have 'drum' brakes and so no longer need big distances in which to safely stop.
Remember, the maximum speed, at which you are legally allowed to travel on a particular stretch of road, should relate to the safety of the drivers and vehicle passengers on that stretch of road and not the safety of pedestrians. Pedestrian safety is determined by ensuring pedestrians are versed in the 'Green Cross Code': stop, look and listen. If every pedestrian looked before crossing the road, pedestrian deaths and injuries - and those of motorists and their passengers, let's not forget (although the 'road safety' nutters do forget) - would be slashed to virtually zero. Mercifully, few motorists lose control of their cars and mount the pavement, killing and injuring pedestrians. Most pedestrian deaths occur on the tarmac part of the road, where pedestrians shouldn't be, unless they have looked first, to check it is safe to cross.
Our speed limits work fantastically well - out of the hundreds of millions of journeys, every year, made by cars and other vehicles, where we pass each other at combined speeds of between 60 mph and 140 mph, and the tens of millions of road-crossings made by pedestrians, only just over 3,000 tragically lose their lives. It's an astonishingly low number, which, sadly, due to the obsession with speed and not 'road safety', is increasing.