[Rodie09]

I have seen in the UK that every speed cam is on the map and I am told that it is law enforcement agencies' obligation to tell motorist of a presence of a speed cam. In absence of clear marking on nav app or physical signage alerting motorists about speed cam, they will not be able to hold the drivers guilty in court.

I wish the same applied here too. As of now it is all skewed one way in favor of enforcement agency as there is clear lack of scientific assessment of limits, display of signage etc.

[Dry Ice]

Originally Posted by binand

But as far as I know these apps use crowdsourced data - so with such a ban in place, data collection will suffer and so will their utility to you and other users?

My thinking always has been that if the purpose of speed cameras and interceptors is speed control, then even if the drivers slow down that is achieved. But if the purpose is revenue augmentation, then zero sympathy with the government.

Exactly what I was thinking while reading the report. If the primary concern is of reducing speeds people carry in a particular stretch, these apps are in-fact helping them achieve the goal. Wonder why the authorities are upset about them?

Maybe the primary objective isn’t road-safety, just revenue collection. That would explain what they are saying, and also the unreasonable speed limits on some sections.

A bit OT, but this “ban” culture is a true menace in our country, can’t fix/stand/get it, ban it!

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Rodie09

I have seen in the UK that every speed cam is on the map and I am told that it is law enforcement agencies' obligation to tell motorist of a presence of a speed cam..

Every European country has slightly different rules when it comes to speed cams. By and large all radar detectors tend to be banned. But as you mention in some countries the law enforcement agencies need to put up signs for speed cams. Although this tends to apply to fixed speed cameras and average speed checks only and not for spot checks.

In the Netherlands the police will announce the spot checks with mobile cameras. There are apps that will show you the precise position and several radio station will broadcast all mobile speed camera operation as part of their traffic updates.

Dutch cops want to reduce the number of speeders so they don't mind location of speed checks being in the open end being communicated via apps and the media.

In France it is illegal to have any device in your car that notifies you of speed camera locations. TomTom has solved this by entering a So called dangerous zone on the map. You don't know where the camera is, but it will be within the 500m of the dangerous zone.

My TomTom has the location of every speed camera, average speed check, known locations for mobile spot checks and the French “dangerous zones” of all of Europe. Very handy.

The most effective way of getting people to stick to the speed is the use of these average speed checks. You are 100% guaranteed to get a fine if you are caught speeding.

Jeroen

[HighOnSpeed]

Radarbot had a pretty neat feature of warning the user with sound alerts and would display the speed limit as well. Unfortunately, they seem to have stopped their services for now. I found that waze on the other hand has alerts but the speed limit is not displayed. Is there anyway to enable this option(on iOS)?

I had to pay a hefty fee of Rs.1500(came in a nice envelope straight to my home in Bangalore) because I made a costly mistake of relying on Waze instead. Sadly, got fined for doing 45kmph in a 40kmph limit zone in Kerala, which was absolutely heart-wrenching considering it was a NH and I could spot no signage for both the speed limit and the camera!

[narayanang76]

In Kerala state in particular, from the Road Infrastructure point of view, none of the roads guarantee a minimum speed, however there are speed and AI cameras everywhere even on state highways to catch motorists. Also the speed limits vary from 40KMPM to 80KMPH on Kerala highways. The road infra is sub-par and overutilised, so its not entirely right from the government to fine motorists for these inconsistent speed limits available. Motor Bikers are a big community that are hit with these Kerala state cameras.

With respect to motorists point of view, many of my friends use different mobile apps, since the location and limits of these speed cameras are unknown, unless we frequent on a particular route. Waze, Radarbot are the mobile apps they mostly use. I am wondering how the government can ban these apps with crowdsourced information. They don't use any radar or such technology to notify on cameras. Even google maps work with crowdsourcing information. Heck even the old school 'police checking ahead' signs from opposite side motorists in India has crowdsourcing info

cheers,
narayanang76

[anjan_c2007]

As is universal, measures by the state to counter illegalities, get illegal and unwarranted gizmos as antidotes to duck such moves by the government. The makers and sellers of these gizmos mushroom, flourish and make their killing by earning millions with the sense of timing. Rule breakers enrich such illegal antidote creators. The government sleeps and wakes up too late in the day to detect and ban these gizmos.

Like the compulsory speed governors mandatory fitment for all four or four wheeled plus commercial vehicles (OE's) took effect from I believe, October 2016. And while chatting with app based taxicab drivers they all revealed that it does not take much time to remove or refit the governor.

Either the gizmo creators or the government wins at the end of the day.

[silverado]

This is wrong practice definately, but what about those interceptor vehicles parked at the base of a long downward slope waiting for you to exceed your speed limit by a thin margin, and then sending you a hefty challan!

I would use such an app just for these, even though i know i drive within speed limits.
My problem with interceptor vehicles is they are not there to intercept rule breakers, in 2024 we surely have solutions to catch culprits in a smarter way.

I have been saying this repeatedly, once caught they should not be fined but made to wait for 2-3 hours and attend a long session.

[Mortis]

What a coincidence ! I just completed a Mumbai -Pune return trip last week after a long time and I was actively keeping an eye out for this stuff after reading about it on TBHP and for some reason kept thinking that the fine was 5k or 10k which I was determined not to shell out.
The speed limit variations are way too frequent and sometimes arbitrary, unnecessary and have large margins between them. The speed limit boards are mostly noticeable but I tend to focus more on the road and I do admit that after driving in India, they are mostly to be ignored other than no entry, one way and no parking. We rarely see anything else anyway.
I just wanted to check if GPS speed as shown on Google maps is more accurate compared to the speedo with stock tyres ? Because the variation I was seeing was greater than 5km/hr.

[lina]

Have accidents reduced? Because thats the only metric that matters.

[i74js]

Originally Posted by fhdowntheline

The problem is that the process may not give any leeway for calibration errors like a plus-minus 5-10 kph. Technically if it observes a speed of 101 kph even for a few seconds, you are facing a hefty fine.

Incorrect, 10% margin is given for fine trigger. In Delhi 55 kmph is the trigger for camera capture, that's how it has been calibrated. This is to offer margin of error in speedometers.

[adi.mariner]

Just might be that the Speed cameras are not functional and the police want someone to blame for the reduction in fine collection.

[subie_socal]

Originally Posted by HighOnSpeed

Radarbot had a pretty neat feature of warning the user with sound alerts and would display the speed limit as well. Unfortunately, they seem to have stopped their services for now. I found that waze on the other hand has alerts but the speed limit is not displayed. Is there anyway to enable this option(on iOS)?

Hi, you can enable speed limit to be displayed by doing the following steps:
Waze -> Hamburger menu (top left) -> Settings -> Speedometer -> Show on map

[DasAuto1985]

In EU countries, many years back at least, there were sign boards in roads that there are cameras ahead. I felt this was stupid and told so to a local guy, that the drivers would slow down and wouldn't get caught. He said "but that's the purpose of cameras right, for them to slow down, not for them to get caught".

[RRM]

Originally Posted by DicKy

They should be happy for the drop in speeding cases. Unless ofcourse, the drop in revenue is hurting them.

This is the main reason as it was easy money for govt. knowing everyone does racing on highways.

[cpabhijit]

Orissa has 80kph as the speed limit throughout its highways. And every 2-3kms, there are radars on the road. But these are more like huge steel structures across the road and easily visible from far away. I've driven across Orissa multiple times and even your dozing co-passenger will not miss these structures. I've not come across a single car which was zipping past these structures. Everyone at 80kph. Enough and more early warning from the authorities themselves, no illegal apps required.