GPS Lets Drivers Elude Red-Light Cams, DWIs

NEW YORK, NY — It’s a scofflaw’s dream – new GPS software that alerts New York City drivers to red-light cameras, speed traps and DWI checkpoints so they can steer clear of cops and traffic tickets.

“The system gives you enough time to correct any dopey thing you’re about to do,” said Brooklyn subway conductor John Carlson, 49, who bought the software from Pennsylvania-based PhantomAlert last year, and said it “absolutely” has helped him avoid tickets.

“I’m from the school where green means go, red means stop, and yellow means go very, very fast,” Carlson said. “So this system not only saves me from tickets, but it has helped me be a better, more alert driver. I don’t do that anymore.”

The PhantomAlert database of law-enforcement locations can be downloaded to a variety of vehicle GPS systems for $10 a month, $40 a year or $100 for life. The database is compiled by drivers, who upload locations as they find them.

The Big Apple database includes all 300 red-light cameras and dozens of police traps. Small icons – such as a martini glass for a DWI checkpoint on some systems – appear on the screen map to alert drivers, while an alarm sounds and a warning message flashes.

The Post test-drove the system in Queens last week, and it identified at least six cameras and three speed traps from 1,000 feet away.

Some of the DWI and speed traps are not active all the time, and only a third of the 300 cameras are active at any given moment, but PhantomAlert founder Joe Scott said: “If there’s a regular spot cops set up traps, then drivers should know that.”

Queens sanitation worker Michael Garcia, 42, bought PhantomAlert in January, and said it has helped him avoid tickets near the RFK/Triborough Bridge.

“The cops wait as cars come off the bridge from Manhattan into Astoria,” he said. “There’s a spot they can hide. I knew to slow down, and sure enough, there they were.”

Carlson said the system “levels the playing field,” and he was happy to add the locations of the city’s 300 red-light cameras into the database after obtaining the top-secret list from a city insider.

“Sometimes you can’t help but go through a yellow,” he said. “Then you get a $50 ticket. It’s really not fair that there’s no warning. It seems like a revenue generator. This gives the driver more power, and encourages them to follow the law, which should be the point.”

But officials worry that the warning system could provoke drivers to break the law.

“I would equate this system with radar detectors, which are illegal in some places,” said Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., chair of the Public Safety Committee. “I think the city should definitely take a close look at this.”