Road Angel Database is Useless for mobile cameras

Road Angel Database is Useless for mobile cameras

Author
Discussion

tulso

Original Poster:

17 posts

217 months

Tuesday 22nd August 2006
quotequote all
The RA has only a very few accident blackspots in it's database.

This is because they don't put them in unless there are 3 or more KSIs (Killed / serious injuries) in the same spot!

The Police don't wait that long to nominate sites for thier mobile cameras. One KSI or a few minors are enough for them.

I'm from Aberdeenshire - anyone out there have a rival device? How does it's warnings compare with the NESCAMP list of blackspots?



Iain

Tech_Boy

33 posts

214 months

Tuesday 22nd August 2006
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You do know accident blackspots and mobile camera sites are 2 completely different things don't you?

Coz if you're looking for a mobile camera detector you should look for one that says it on the box as all companies who offer accident blackspots class them as seperate entities and I think nearly all companies are offering these now. Snooper for example on their website for the Sapphire (http://snooper.intranetics.co.uk/snoo they say they alert to "Accident Blackspots" and "Mobile Laser Sites" and for there S3 (http://snooper.intranetics.co.uk/snoo they only say "Laser Guns" therefore they're not the same. Different manufacturers offer different alerts and some use laser detectors, others don't. You obviously didn't look into the product before buying it did you, most people do and that's called research. Take these forums for example people tend to ask for guidance on these things before buying something and then stating the obvious about what it wasn't designed to do. I go on various forums for help on things from cars to multimedia and theres always someone that can help, so to save you time and money why not start a thread called which mobile camera detector? as you may get more help, people don't tend to be interested in people slating things unless it's in a review for example and actually is relevant to the product which to me this isn't.

Rant over. Hope you have better luck when you find a product to fit your needs.

FUBAR

17,062 posts

239 months

Tuesday 22nd August 2006
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That told him hehe

tulso

Original Poster:

17 posts

217 months

Wednesday 23rd August 2006
quotequote all
You are right, Accident Blackspots and Mobile Safety camera sites are not the same. I know that now, but did not realise it at the time.

From the Nescamp site(North East Safety Camera Partnership(fixed and mobile cameras)):

The location of mobile cameras are determined by rigorous traffic surveys and collision data analysis,
to ensure they are sited only in areas with a history of collisions attributed to excessive or inappropriate speed.

From the Road angel site:

The No.1 safety camera & accident blackspot alert system

The "safety camera" phrase was common to both, so I assumed and presumed RA would have ALL Blackspots and ALL safety cameras including the mobile ones.

OK, so it's marketingspeak, I should have taken it with a pinch of salt.

I'll check out the sites you suggested. Ta.

Iain

maryj911

26 posts

216 months

Thursday 24th August 2006
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So,whats the best for the speed cameras?

Tech_Boy

33 posts

214 months

Tuesday 29th August 2006
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maryj911 said:
So,whats the best for the speed cameras?

That is a big talking point as to whats best, coz whoever you ask you'll more than likely get a different answer. It's all down to personal experience and from what I've used I chose Road Angel, but people who use Talex would say they're best and those who have used Snooper would say they are, and so on. One thing I never do is read a mag review and make a decision based on that as mags are all the same, where whoever pays the most gets the best review. Out of the current competition I'd say Talex is cheap and cheerful but their database isn't the most up to date, Snooper are not so cheap but still suffer with their DB or radar detection (which is crap), TomTom has the worst DB out of all as my old Go with cameras was absolutely pants, not only missing cameras but it gave alerts for the wrong speeds alot.

No camera detector can be expected to be 100% all the time, but you'd expect the best for the majority, however there are certain variables that you have to take into consideration, most importantly how frequently you're going to update. After speaking to someone from Road Angel about there DB I have started updating on a daily basis or in worst case every second day as I was told it's the only way to make sure I get all the correct alerts. The best thing I've found is that they even add cameras as they are being installed, for example in London I've received a couple of alerts for the new SpeedCurb cameras when there was no actual camera on the top and also when one was bagged up. I think this is great as it shows how efficient they are as I'd rather get an alert to something going in then no alert to something thats there. As yet I'm yet to see a camera that my unit hasn't picked up but I'm sure at some point I will as that's life, but so far I'm a very happy customer.

Sorry to go on a bit but once I start I get carried away.

Hope it's of some help