Got a Speedin' ticket? Got a GPS? This dude does!

[Fish-Bait]

A retired sheriff's deputy nevertheless hopes to beat the long odds of the law by setting the performance of a police officer's radar gun against the accuracy of the GPS tracking device he installed in his teenage stepson's car.


The rest of the story is here (http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/10/26/ticket.gps.ap/index.html). I wonder who will win? I think I will get one of these for my youngun's vehicle (if he don't straighten up he'll never get a ride) it looks like a good tool to keep track of driving habits.....

[wilebill]

Does it monitor the status of your tag light? If so, then I may get one.

[amanda]

Hmmmm. This must be a better system than what Butterball has. He has the Garmin Street Pilot and while it tracks road stats it has a feature that has an "average max speed" feature that I haven't quite figured out. There have been times I've looked at this average and it would say that I've gone more than 90 mph and I haven't had reason to go that fast in a long time. :) We got stopped by an Alabama State Trooper on our way to Tennessee over the summer. Butterball had set his cruise control by the Garmin's acutal speed indicator and we got pulled over. The police officer said we were going 82 in a 70 when we were showing that we were set at 75. Butterball pointed to the GPS and explained, wherein the police officer explained that he could take the GPS, plug it into his computer and tell us exactly how fast we were going and where and, furthermore, in Alabama the speed limit is 70 and he advised we obey the law. Yes, sir, we replied and left.

So I think I'll skip using the Garmin as an argument over a traffic ticket for now. But my fast approaching teenage son is so doomed because we will have one in his car as well as a dash-mounted camera. :-D

[jojobeans1120]

I've got a few years yet before I have to worry about things such as that, but I do believe it is a great idea! It's great to see parents taking such an interest in their child's driving and overall behavior while they're apart. I wish more were like these guys. :clap:

[Hob684]

Butterball pointed to the GPS and explained, wherein the police officer explained that he could take the GPS, plug it into his computer and tell us exactly how fast we were going and where and, furthermore, in Alabama the speed limit is 70 and he advised we obey the law. Yes, sir, we replied and left.

So I think I'll skip using the Garmin as an argument over a traffic ticket for now. But my fast approaching teenage son is so doomed because we will have one in his car as well as a dash-mounted camera. :-D

After determining if he was going to give you a ticket or not you should have asked him to plug in the GPS for your personal knowledge.

I like to know when an expensive piece of electronics is giving me false data.

[Fish-Bait]

I've got a few years yet before I have to worry about things such as that, but I do believe it is a great idea! It's great to see parents taking such an interest in their child's driving and overall behavior while they're apart. I wish more were like these guys. :clap:

Exactly, I don't think the former deputy's point is beating the ticket, but rather showing his stepson how the justice system works.:smt023

[Hob684]

Exactly, I don't think the former deputy's point is beating the ticket, but rather showing his stepson how the justice system works.:smt023

i agree, he stated in the article that he knows his stepson has a lead foot and that is why he put the GPS in his Celica, to be a proactive deterent. The kid already lost driving priviledges for 10days for exceeding 70mph.


i think i may put one of these things in my wife's car... :kekeke:

[58ford]

Don't trust the GPS, your kid will figure out how to hack it from a youtube video.

[Hob684]

Don't trust the GPS, your kid will figure out how to hack it from a youtube video.

only if they know its there. :smt103

[amanda]

After determining if he was going to give you a ticket or not you should have asked him to plug in the GPS for your personal knowledge.

I like to know when an expensive piece of electronics is giving me false data.

Uh, no, this guy was SO not in a "teaching" frame of mind. He pulled us and another car over at the same time. We only got out of getting a ticket because he "ran out of paper" on his computer-ticket-thingy. I was just interested in getting to the Tennessee state line. :-D

[Remington]

A GPS is very accurate for measuring speeds, but measures a horizontal speed. When going up and down hills, the GPS measures your horizontal speed, but your actual speed on a contour is faster. You can download the track file and edit it and upload it as a track file.....well, you can with certain GPS models. You have to edit the time stamp and it's a whole lot of trouble and really not worth the effort.....because you have to edit every single time on every ping to the end of the track or to a point where you stopped or you'll show a section where you surge ahead real fast.

[amanda]

A GPS is very accurate for measuring speeds, but measures a horizontal speed. When going up and down hills, the GPS measures your horizontal speed, but your actual speed on a contour is faster. You can download the track file and edit it and upload it as a track file.....well, you can with certain GPS models. You have to edit the time stamp and it's a whole lot of trouble and really not worth the effort.....because you have to edit every single time on every ping to the end of the track or to a point where you stopped or you'll show a section where you surge ahead real fast.


:smt104 Whatcha' say? :smt102

[bpitt]

My daughters ain't driving till their 30, married, with 2 kids, and work two jobs........

[bpitt]

Nah, really though, I plan on placing bugs on their cars so I can track them with my PDA or computer. Also, I'll get them the cellphones with the GPS that allows you to see where they're at, well, at least were their cellphone is at.

[MSQueen]

Nah, really though, I plan on placing bugs on their cars so I can track them with my PDA or computer. Also, I'll get them the cellphones with the GPS that allows you to see where they're at, well, at least were their cellphone is at.

i sure am glad they didn't have all of these "spying" gadgets when I was coming up! :-D y'all sure know how to take the fun out of being a teenager!

there are SOME things that my kids have done that i don't necessarily want to know about -- mainly because i would probably have to TRIPLE my nerve medication!! :laugh:

seriously, unless you have some really bad issues with your kids speeding, etc., i don't see why you would want to do that. that would just seem to be another reason for them to be p.o'd at you at a time in their life that they really don't like you (their parents) that much in the first place! especially when you don't know what you're talking about (or so i've heard teenagers say about their parents)! :smt009 :smt001

[amanda]

i sure am glad they didn't have all of these "spying" gadgets when I was coming up! :-D y'all sure know how to take the fun out of being a teenager!

there are SOME things that my kids have done that i don't necessarily want to know about -- mainly because i would probably have to TRIPLE my nerve medication!! :laugh:

seriously, unless you have some really bad issues with your kids speeding, etc., i don't see why you would want to do that. that would just seem to be another reason for them to be p.o'd at you at a time in their life that they really don't like you (their parents) that much in the first place! especially when you don't know what you're talking about (or so i've heard teenagers say about their parents)! :smt009 :smt001

LOLROTF!! ME TOO!! MsQueen, if my mom would have know half of what I did in her car I wouldn't have been able to drive until I left home. :kekeke: As it was I totaled 2 of hers before I was forced to buy my own. That's why I'll make sure my kids will have every tracking, monitoring, recording device available. Mother's Curse and all. :-D

[Fish-Bait]

Word to the wise.......

They will figure out a way to....."disable" it everything from droppin' it in a 36 oz. bladder buster accidently to droppin' it in a mudhole while "showin' it to their friends". And you can bet your bottom dollar when it gets "disabled" it will be for a dam good reason, ON THEIR END OF THE SPECTRUM, NOT YOURS!!!!!!

[amanda]

Word to the wise.......

They will figure out a way to....."disable" it everything from droppin' it in a 36 oz. bladder buster accidently to droppin' it in a mudhole while "showin' it to their friends". And you can bet your bottom dollar when it gets "disabled" it will be for a dam good reason, ON THEIR END OF THE SPECTRUM, NOT YOURS!!!!!!

That's why I'll have a few gadgets in the car unknown to them. :smt105

[Fish-Bait]

That's why I'll have a few gadgets in the car unknown to them. :smt105

Trust me!!!! They won't stop until.......I am tellin' you. They are just as smart about stuff as we were, now so prolly even smarter!!!!!!!!

[Fish-Bait]

Dang, a lizard just crawled up to the top of my monitor....one of those little green ones.....his eyes are goin' all crazy........he's watchin' me type. I think I am gonna' name him Donnis. Now he is on my radio........This is funny....

[amanda]

Trust me!!!! They won't stop until.......I am tellin' you. They are just as smart about stuff as we were, now so prolly even smarter!!!!!!!!


Ha! That's what I thought growing up too. LOL. But my mother knew EVERY thing I did and she didn't even have GPS at her disposal. I'm hoping some of that gene carried over with me. :-D

[RGDoherty]

YouTube - highway patrol junior brown

[TheCapitalist]

Thanks, RG. My buddy taped his performance in hattiesburg 5/14/05. Great stuff. Many disregard his performance as antics/ humor but his playing is INCREDIBLE. The craziest drumming i've ever heard. One drum and a cymbal. Sounded like a full set. Even wet his thumb and rubbed it on the head to make other sounds. Wish I could find those pics. When i do i'll put some in my gallery. (off thread i know).

[mac]

The navigation system in our car keeps track of recent routes, so you can look back and see where we've been. I find it creepy, but it'd be perfect for a teenage driver if it kept track of speeds.

When I was a teenager, my father claimed to have found a device that would keep track of average and max speeds. I thought he was bluffin' though. His rule was that I could never drive more than 45 on the roads, regardless of the speed limit, and I could only drive 55 on the interstate, even though the limit was 70.

[RGDoherty]

Yeah Cap, I saw him in Corpus Christi in 2003. I'd put him up against most on guitar!

mac, sounds like Dad was looking out for you. That's a responsible parent in my book. Do y'all have a built in Nav system or an add on like the Garmin Street Pilot?

[Bahlk]

Look people...when I was a teenager in the late 80's I didn't have my own car. I had to use mom's. Well Mom had a 80's model, Buick with a 350 and a 4 barrel carb. I thought I was cool with a car that would haul butt. The rule was I had to come straight back home from wherever I borrowed the car. One Sunday after church i was on the way back home and took a "detour" by this girls house I wanted to talk to. Showing out I spun the tires and blew the right rear out in front of the girl's house. Not a way to impress. Plus my mom found out and I was grounded for a month.

Aah, those are the days. Kids are doing the same things, there are just more up to date methods of tracking kids down nowadays.

[carsalesguy]

here's a solution-

buy them a POS. they don't go fast, and they are going to total it or tear it up, so why buy them something new that will fly?

[TheCapitalist]

here's a solution-

buy them a POS. they don't go fast, and they are going to total it or tear it up, so why buy them something new that will fly?

No kidding. That '76 or so mustang II with 4 cylinder my parents bought was a dog. Only way to burn out was to put in reverse a little ways, the drive and slam it! Stupid 16yr old i was. Not as bad as that ford fairmont i think it was. made out of beer cans! All in all, it beat walking! Thanks, mom and dad.