Speed Trap App

Tue, Sep 7, 2010

It happens to almost everyone driving from D.C. to the Delaware beaches: you’re tooling along at a reasonable rate enjoying the rural countryside and then suddenly POW! — the speed limit inexplicably drops to 25 mph and there’s a siren and flashing red light behind you. Welcome to the Delaware speed traps. You’d better watch those signs or you’ll get served a ticket about the same price as that seafood dinner you were so looking forward to.

But Lifehacker has discovered a mobile app that can do the speed-trap watching for you. It’s called Trapster, and it crowdsources speed traps around the world. Powered by its 4 million users who report these hidden pitfalls, Trapster will alert you in one of several voices so you don’t have to take your eyes off the road to squint at the screen. It works for Android, iPhone, Blackberry, PalmPre, Windows Mobile, TomTom, and Garmin, and it will also alert you to red-light cameras, construction zones, real-time accidents and traffic delay, and other hazards that might otherwise spoil your road trip. It can also find you a good spot for pizza. Best of all, it’s free!

Watch a video showing the basics of how Trapster works after the jump.

Photo via Trapster blog via Lifehacker. For road trip suggestions, check out our Drives of a Lifetime.