Hey guys,
i'm looking to install some sort of system in the car of mine to warn me about the current speed on the road or if there is a speed camera up ahead. I need some help as i have bought a garmin one that doesn't warn you at all. Has anyone tried the australian product 'speed alert pro', i'm having trouble finding reviews for the product.
Adding a Speed Limit / Camera Warning System to Car
Will Mcdonald on 05/04/2022 - 10:38
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Yep, Waze does it all.
End thread.
how about TomTom's AmiGO app?
Doesn’t it rely on people reporting them though?
Yes but that's the only way you'll get mobile speed camera alerts anyway.
Unless you're thinking of radar detectors…
Waze does rely on the community. That is what makes it better than a dedicated GPS or camera option. User input data is virtually live, as it happens. Standalone GPS unit data is maybe updated once a year at best and is often 2 to 3 years behind even when you do update it.
how are people reporting them when they shouldn't be touching their phones while driving??
@87percent: "Hey Google, report police"
"Hey Google, report hazard"
"Hey passenger, can you please report stopped vehicle on side of the road"@Nalar: Related tangent: Google assistant is frustratingly hit-and-miss on my phone. Half the time she doesn't respond, but even the other half when she makes that sound like she's listening she doesn't complete the request.
Nothing more annoying than a podcast ending then sitting in silence because it won't take your request to listen to something else.
@jetblack: Lucky you. My Scottish accent really confuses any of the speech recognition bots. "Eleven" is too close to the truth to be funny.
@87percent: Passengers, voice commands. And unless it has changed you are allowed to use a phone in a cradle for navigation if you hold a full license in NSW, so confirming you just went past one would only violate a law directly related to reporting them. Note I'm not a lawyer and you should verify anything you i say for yourself, as I will take no responsibility if you follow my advice and end up in trouble. Happy to be corrected if I'm wrong.
@87percent: You certainly can under certain conditions in NSW namely your phone must be in a cradle fixed to the car and you hold an unrestricted licence.
Copied from the Transport NSW site
-Make or receive audio phone call
-Use music or audio functions
-Use as a driver's aid (e.g. navigation, Speed Adviser app or dispatch system)@87percent: If your talking about NSW perhaps "refresh" on the current rules at the below website. If it's in an appropriate phone holder and it's a driver's aid (eg navigation) then your good (full rules at website)
From that site:
Drivers with a full licence
There are only 2 ways you can use a mobile phone while driving:Hands-free – you can only use your phone hands-free (without touching it) to:
make or receive voice calls
play audio, for example, music and podcasts.In a phone holder – you can only use and touch your phone to:
make or receive voice calls
play audio, for example, music and podcasts
use as a driver’s aid, for example, maps and navigation apps or dispatch systemsWhat you cannot do:
Text, email, video call, internet search, social media, photography, hold the phone, put it on your leg or between your should and ear or any other part of your body…….
https://www.nsw.gov.au/topics/roads-safety-and-rules/safe-dr….
What and Garmin or other systems, are given inside information from Police authorities?
Get real!!
that doesnt happen.
All speed camera alerts will be from reports by other road users.
Download and run Waze if you are looking at knowing about speed camera and police speed traps. It also has speed alerts in it that lets you know what the road is set at, but is only as reliable as the information supported by the users, so it doesn’t do road work limits.
I know some dash cams will do speed limit readouts, but don’t do camera/police locations. And some GPS units that do camera/police location, but can’t read speed limit signs.
On a side note: My wife’s Corolla has this function built in where it reads the speed limit signs at the side of a road and puts that information up in the dash cluster. You can set it to remind you if you drift over the last seen speed limit sign.
I have the same system in my Corolla and it's more of a hindrance than anything else. It always detect the wrong signs especially on highways and it always pings school zones even during out of school hours. All round unreliable.
Just remember that any device you get will only be as good as the data updates it receives.
IMO, if you have a smart phone, using an app like Waze/Google Maps that has speed camera info on there is probably your best bet. The data in there is not 100%, but it's as close as you'll get since it's constantly updated by users.
Any other devices you buy for the specific purpose will probably only get annual updates and there may or may not be additional charges for that.
true we have a navman that is over 10 years old and it has the common spots for mobile speed camera locations and just warns you. But because it has never been updated it is missing the newer fixed locations but you get 3 warning signs for those in NSW
What model do you have? Some of the Garmin ones need a workaround to get all that stuff up and running. It can be a little complicated. I changed the region on mine so that there is an audible warning when you go over the speed limit.
story time,
i was driving behind a police highway patrol car, and in the distance i could see a roadside RBT site, a vehicle travelling towards us suddenly flashes lights to warn us of the RBT ahead.
needless to say the when the car finally drove past us had instant regret and the expression on the guys face was priceless, which then followed by a dramatic U-turn from the HWP car in front of me with his own flashing lights.
If that ever happens to you, you saw an obstruction on the road and flashed your lights to easily identify whether it was a hazard or not.
I would advise not saying anything at all. It's not an offence to do this unless they are really pushing some specific circumstances.
further more I have also heard that its only illegal if you use your high beams to do this. Flashing low isnt illegal
There is no specific law, however there are multiple rules they can potentially ping you with fines for in those circumstances.
It most certainly is, and you're a classic example of why you do not take legal advice on the internet.
http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_reg/rsrr20…
ROAD SAFETY ROAD RULES 2017 - REG 218drivers must not use the high beam headlights when driving:
less than 200 metres behind a vehicle travelling in the same direction or,
less than 200 metres from an oncoming vehicleFor one.
Obsruction/Hinder police for another.
I don't think it's unlawful to do this. There are some provisions that may make it sound like it is but if you took it to court rather than accepting the on the spot fine, I'm pretty confident you would not be found guilty of any of them.
There's no rule directly about flashing your lights. In NSW there's a few that apply though:
218:(1) The driver of a vehicle must not use the vehicle's headlights on high-beam, or allow the vehicle's headlights to be used on high-beam, if the driver is driving—
(a) less than 200 metres behind a vehicle travelling in the same direction as the driver, or
(b) less than 200 metres from an oncoming vehicle.
(2) However, if the driver is overtaking a vehicle, the driver may briefly switch the headlights from low-beam to high-beam immediately before the driver begins to overtake the vehicle.219:
A driver must not use, or allow to be used, any light fitted to or in the driver's vehicle to dazzle, or in a way that is likely to dazzle, another road user.
Argument could also be made that you're interfering with police work.
Argument could also be made that you're interfering with police
workdaily quota and revenue targets.FTFY.
And police would have a hard time making either of those fine stick if it was 1pm.
As for affecting "police work", the only thing that flashing your lights to warn oncoming drivers would be in the interests of road safety and police would have to claim that you flashing your lights at oncoming vehicles would affect their ability to do their job, which it wouldn't… you know, unless they were only out to fill quotas and meet revenue targets… You are not affecting their ability to do the work, but merely affecting their ability to meet targets.
Argument could also be made that you're interfering with police daily quota and revenue targets.
There's an even easier way to really screw up these mythical targets - drive in a way that means you don't infringe road rules. It has the added benefit that you'll also be a safer driver and save money through using less fuel and getting no fines.
@pegaxs: Why not just follow the speed limit? I go to a rehabilitation hospital in Brisbane several times a year to see a physiotherapist and occupational therapist to help improve my activities of daily life from an illness, and about 20% of their patients are from motor vehicle collisions which are nearly ALWAYS caused by speeding. People as young as 16 to the elderly and many in between sustain severe injuries and often spend weeks to months seeing a Physiotherapist and Occupational Therapist to learn how to stand, walk and lift things like their kettle or to be able to do a load of washing. It’s not just about revenue raising, it’s about safety. Please think before you speed as it can have devastating effects on people’s lives. Is it really that important that you get to where you’re going a few minutes earlier? I’m sure you would feel very differently if someone you love was killed or maimed by a speeding driver.
@pegaxs: Not in this case, an RBT is designed to catch people driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol (which is also a drug), not speeding. Warning them before hand does not improve road safety, but allows a motorist under the influence of drugs to escape police intervention thereby potentially causing further harm.
I don't agree these would work, a half competent lawyer would be able to set this straight. Those laws can't be used to prohibit a brief flash of the high beams, unless they were using them to punish people to notify others of speed cameras which is your right - that would be a complete abuse of the purpose of those laws.
Argument could also be made that you're interfering with police work
There is no chance in hell this argument would fly. Telling a random passer by "don't deal drugs" would also be interfering with police work on this basis.
@[Deactivated]: Nah, I just don't feel pressure to form opinions on the basis of other's sh!tty perspectives. You should try having an original thought some day. Also who even talks like that lol.
@Scantu: You were wrong. You've been linked to the offence that proves you were wrong. Sit down and eat your salt boy.
@[Deactivated]: Oh you're talking about the lights stuff? Any competent lawyer would be able defeat those charges, easily. That's not even up for debate, I thought you were talking about the speed stuff which is up to each individuals preference of what "Speeding" should be.
The flash-lights stuff though, there is no way that it would be successful if you took it to court. They abuse those laws to scare people into complying knowing full-well if it was challenged it would fail.
Sit down and eat your salt boy.
You have a weird way of speaking for someone who obviously knows literally nothing about the law.
@Scantu: Speeding isn't up to your personal preference rofl, neither is driving slower than the conditions. You can and will be charged for driving too slowly as you will equally be charged for driving too fast, and nobody is going to give a shit about your "opinion".
Yes, people are charged with the light flashing, yes, it is successful. Not just under the specific law given but under "Hinder police".
Please just stop talking.
Speeding isn't up to your personal preference rofl, neither is driving slower than the conditions. You can and will be charged for driving too slowly as you will equally be charged for driving too fast, and nobody is going to give a shit about your "opinion".
You don't understand what I'm saying. I am saying there is no objective answer to what a good "speeding law" is. But the answer to the lights question is objective: Those charges would not stick if you hire an even half decent lawyer.
You speak like a child and that is clearly also your level of knowledge on this subject.
Not just under the specific law given but under "Hinder police".
Out of all the charges, this is specifically the one that will most definitely not stick. The original commenter literally just lazy copy-pasted if from a website where they (incorrectly) speculated that police could use this. There is no chance in hell you would be successfully charged with hindering police for flashing your lights, for a plethora of reasons.
Try not just taking the first thing you read online as true. It will help you in life greatly.
@Scantu: It has been successfully prosecuted on multiple occasions.
You are saying there is no subjective answer. The objective is defined by law.
Tell me you're a 1st year law student without telling me you're still just a student. Lol.
You're filtered now, I won't see any more comments but being the narcissistic arse you are, you're going to leave one.
It has been successfully prosecuted on multiple occasions.
It literally hasn't. I'll be waiting for your source. And even if it has - a sh!t lawyer can loose you any case, no matter how absurd.
You are saying there is no subjective answer. The objective is defined by law
Did I say the law as it stands is subjective? No. I said the moral grounds are subjective.
Tell me you're a 1st year law student without telling me you're still just a student. Lol.
You're filtered now, I won't see any more comments but being the narcissistic arse you are, you're going to leave one.
I can literally feel you panicking from the other side of the screen lol. I'll accept your lame back-down and we'll leave it there.
Happened to me once. Flashed my lights and there was a patrol car behind minivan. No doubts they saw me as copper driver gave me a really nasty look when I drove past him. Nothing else happened though.
Drive 10 under the speed limit in the left, problems solved.
next post; why do I always get tailgated and road raged against.
I understand the limit is the max speed, but 10 under is taking the piss. 'most' cars are such that you are travelling slower than the dial shows
.What are you talking about, in Sydney everyone is driving +10 to the limit. If you do limit, people will literally spit on you in rage.
*everyone except camry drivers
I drove through Rhodes this morning at 10. Had cars in each lane going between 60 and 65. Fun times.
Keep in mind most cars have the speedometer calibrated to 3-5kms below actual speed - you can verify this on gps.
So at speed limit means 5km under in a lot of cases
@May4th: The displayed speed can be up to 10% below the actual speed.
GPS is more indicative of actual speed as it doesn’t have to allow for things like tyre wear changing the speedo and getting the car manufacture the blame for your speeding fine.
@May4th: I have a feeling that most of Sydney drivers believe that their speedos are calibrated to be at least 20kms below everyday and 30kms below when it's raining. Or they are really dyslexic and can't read numbers at all.
I don't have other explanations on why people are casually driving at 80 in 60 zone.
It is offence to unreasonably cause an obstruction.
I have tried waze but i''m looking for something that boots up automatically when the car starts. It needs to be a permanent fixture considering my wife ain't tech savy and won't boot up the waze app.
Make her pay the fines a few times. That should sort that one out?
Fines for going +/- 10mkh at high speeds are just BS. I'd rather people try and avoid the fine rather than comply with ridiculous and unnecessarily strict laws that do nothing to increase safety.
@Lord Fart Bucket: Ah yes, the classic "out of context here's a study".
Allowing people with no scientific background access to studies is almost like handing a knife to a baby.
By your logic we should all be going 1km/h on every road to reduce harm. Not to mention that Australia has some of the lowest open road speed limits in the developed world. See how large your bias is? You assume the status quo in this country is some sort of "moral right" and then quote a stopping distance study as your evidence. Such a BS attitude held by most people in this country.
@Scantu: You forgot to list your qualifications to appropriately discuss this matter.
Allowing people with no scientific background access to studies is almost like handing a knife to a baby.
Statistician here.
See how large your bias is?
Did you read my response? I listed that - on a dry road - there is an extra 15m required to come to a full stop if you're doing 110kph as opposed to 100kph. This means there is a safety aspect to the speed limit.
You assume
You assume a hell of a lot. I doubt the high horse you're on is going to break the speed limit on the highway.
@Lord Fart Bucket: If you are saying you are a statistician by profession you aren't helping your case. You (should) know very well you can't just plant a study like that into real world application. And then not to mention the fact - what is the argument you're making? How do you propose that Australia is somehow the perfect moral authority on "what speed good what speed bad".
I read your response, it's correlative nonsense.
You assume a hell of a lot. I doubt the high horse you're on is going to break the speed limit on the highway.
Damn that's so witty I'm rolling on the floor laughing…
@Scantu: It would have just been faster to say "I'm doubling down on exceeding the speed limit doesn't affect safety, and I have no evidence of my own to support this"
@Scantu: Really, that's the standard you're resting on? It's just as reasonable to assume it's as safe to drive the speed limit as it is to drive 10 kms faster than the speed limit?
Well, if it's just as safe to drive at 10kms faster than the speed limit, we might as well add an other 10 on, right? Because safe + 10 = still safe? And then, well, it's equally as safe, so on goes another 10. And another, and onwards we go.
The funny thing is you're pouring the scorn on and you've got the weakest argument of the lot ("this is just like giving a knife to a baby, apply some thinking to your arguments please"). I mean, are you arguing that it doesn't take longer to stop/slow down from higher speeds? That's purely physics, not cherry picking circumstances.
@Crow K: You're assuming I've used some logic that I haven't, so your reply is not valid.
I mean, are you arguing that it doesn't take longer to stop/slow down from higher speeds?
I'm arguing simply bringing up a study that is correlative is a dishonest argument
@Scantu: Well, I'll agree with you on one thing, you certainly haven't been using any logic.
It's intellectually dishonest to not put up anything to support your position and go to these lengths to debunk opposition ("Actually, that study doesn't exactly match a set of circumstances I've envisaged and not disclosed, so go hunt out some more counter-arguments").
This would be a fine time to admit you were just being pissy about a bugbear of speeding fines than "well clearly there's a sinister and illogical process in place here".
It's intellectually dishonest to not put up anything to support your position and go to these lengths to debunk opposition
There is no opposition to be matched, it's just blabber. It takes ten times as much energy to debunk made up BS than it does to produce it, I'm under no such obligation. It's hard enough combatting inappropriate use of statistics as it is.
@Scantu: Imagine complaining about made up BS and blabber after starting a discussion with the 'fact' that speeding fines are BS that force you to "comply with ridiculous and unnecessarily strict laws that do nothing to increase safety".
What do you do for an encore, "why aren't you out there catching the real criminals, there's murderers everywhere and you're writing me a ticket instead of doing your job"?
@Lord Fart Bucket: Don't know what that is but all I am an advocate for is not using emotional arguments and misapplying statistics to systematically penalize people for doing things that are not morally wrong.
Does the phone have Bluetooth? Mine does combined with Android Auto,( plus the ABC comes on).
You can use an app like Trigger to boot specific app when charger attached (i.e Car turns on) or when connecting to specific Bluetooth device (i.e the car's blue tooth, or a el cheapo Bluetooth audio transmitter)
Go to a Mazda wrecking yard and pull out the Sat Nav from a Mazda 3 GT or Astina, even from 2015 onwards. It boots on start up, has all sorts of alerts including school zone, camera, over speed etc. You can also check out CX-5's and Mazda 6's with infotainment as they would be the same.
there are 2 expensive standalone options if you are up for that, i dont think there are many other options available.
roadangel www.roadangelgroup.com its subscription based.
escort redline (in gps only mode if not in WA)
https://www.neltronics.com.au/product-category/radar-detecto… but if not in gps mode you risk a hefty fine.Install an Android head unit with a sim card (eg Joying). You can set it to boot to waze when the car starts. It's saved my licence.
May not be it but Veloceraptor is an android overlay that beeps if ur speeding and shows speed limit. Saved me on the golden point. But needs to be while Google Maps is running
Allocate more focus on driving to the conditions (and below the maximum speed limits) and less on worrying about getting caught speeding.
Waze doesn't warn for red light speed cameras - just tells you it's a red light camera. I learnt the hard way the other day and am awaiting a speeding fine in the mail - who puts a 40 km/h zone on Oxford St in Sydney!? Lol
I saw an umarked sign flash last year in a a similar area. I never received a fine.
Here's hoping! Haha! I googled it, apparently it's one of the most lucrative speed cameras, especially with the 40 zone.
It’s a very busy area. It should be 40km/h
Is the car fitted with Android auto or carplay?
maybe u can join the policy academy, rise up in the ranks, be in charge of the division monitoring fixed and mobile speed cameras, create an app disclosing the location
then…download the app and speed like crazy
Or, you know, just look up the information on your states transport or police authority website. It isnt "secret knowledge" where these camera are…
Useless for mobile speed cameras. They vary their position on the street each time and generally find obstacles to hide them from afar.
Thats when they are reported as 'hidden'.
Useless for mobile speed cameras.
What? Did you even look at the link I posted?
Under “Type”, you select “Mobile speed cameras” and leave the rest as “All” and hit the search button…
@djones was suggesting you needed to be a high ranking police officer to know where speed cameras, both fixed and mobile, are located. I provided a link to show you can find this information easily.
And these are not “police” issues”, the cameras, mobile and fixed, are not operated by police but usually by the states transport authority or a contracting company contracted to the state government transport regulatory bodies. So, becoming a high ranking police officer would gain them no more advantage over anyone else who can look up these locations on a daily basis.
@pegaxs: I don't think that's a "current" list, at least not what the layperson would consider "current" - my suburb has 12 mobile speed cameras listed, but I know for a fact they don't deploy cameras at all 12 of those sites at the same time.
It's a list of where they might be putting mobile speed cameras at any given time, not a list of what cameras are currently deployed.
@pegaxs: What? Did you look at the list yourself?
It doesn't give exact locations. It doesn't tell you if they are currently there or not, some of the roads listed are as long as the state ie. Princes Hwy.
This list is only somewhat useful for fixed speed cameras, but any GPS or Google maps can easily tell you that.
Do the police do this?
Not perfect and maybe more than you want to spend but Thinkware dashcams have, IIRC, what they call safety cam feature. Essentially it's GPS based but warns you of fixed speed cameras (and red light? Can't recall now). They also warn when you're in a known mobile camera zone but this was actually annoying as it warns every few seconds. You can also set a speed alert feature but that wasn't adaptive. Newer models may be adaptive as I think that was something they were working on, you'd need to check. So on top of your camera warnings you get a excellent quality dashcam.
Going from a Thinkware to a Blackvue, I genuinely miss this feature.
Yeah, it was great for driving in an area you're not familiar with. I'm using a Blackvue currently as well as I wanted to try a 4K camera and Thinkware didn't have one at the time. I'll likely go back to Thinkware on the next one.
They also warn when you're in a known mobile camera zone but this was actually annoying as it warns every few seconds
Sydney in a nutshell!
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Waze warns you of fixed and mobile speed cameras and it's free.