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Police have Anti-Waze App

Post by mph80isFair
My buddy was stopped in Virginia on Route 1. Cop said he could see he was using the Waze app, and
could detect his speed. He gave him a ticket for using Waze or Trapster.

Has anyone else seen this? Police being able to track whose using the app?

Also isn't this an invasion of privacy? I have to think this would be a fight-able ticket.

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Post by ct13
Couldn’t have been recently, Trapster has been off line for almost 3 years now. I find it highly doubtful Waze would share info with police like that and if they got it another way it sounds illegal. To echo the others, there is no law in the US that says it’s illegal to point out the location of police officers. Some states do have hands off rules for phones and devices but it is limited to texting in VA as far as I know (also difficult to enforce).

You can see someone’s speed in the app if they happen to pop up on your screen which would only happen a few minutes after they had left the area and even then it’s only says something like over 40mph or under 25 mph.
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Post by kpoochie
That is crazy, when I moved here it was weird to find out that radar detectors were illegal. The driving laws and such here are very different than any of the other states I've lived in. I ended up putting in a new head unit with android auto built in so I won't my cellphone on the dash as it could be impeding your vision and you get a ticket for that, but that's anywhere.

The DMV lets you register your vehicle here without even getting the required safety check done. They didn't even tell me I needed one. I kept seeing stickers on the front windows and asked a co-worker if I needed a smog check. Said it was for a safety inspection each year. Only needed a smog check in Northern VA.

I end up getting a property tax from my county for owning a vehicle. I talked to a neighbor and she said ya you have to pay that they send it twice a year. If you don't they notify the DMV and you can't re-register your vehicle. Why not just include this in the fee I pay at the DMV each year.
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Post by LennyNRPD
Hello mph80isFair,

I have personally never heard of such a law. I would be very interested to know the article code he was cited for on the ticket however.
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Post by mike20878
Wow, that is some bullshit. I would certainly fight it.

I remember when Trapster got in trouble for alerting to DUI checkpoints. That was ridiculous too as police advertise their listings.

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Post by mike20878
I found this uber driver forum:

https://uberpeople.net/threads/cited-fo ... ia.172370/

There are a couple articles linked in there that are interesting.
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Post by mph80isFair
My buddy said the guy wrote the ticket up as "Mobile Detection".

I know that radar detectors are illegal in Virginia. Maybe this was matter of just tricking my
friend into admitting he was using a detection app.

In fact, I saw an article online that the State of Virginia is working with Waze
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Post by MrNicGuy
Sounds like some misinformation or incomplete information. You can't be cited in VA for using the app. Maybe he was cited for entering a UR in Waze while driving. It might be considered texting while driving. Or he may have been cited for having the phone on the dash (obstructed view). But not just using the app as a navigation tool.
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Post by subs5
https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/tit ... 46.2-1079/

It shall be unlawful for any person to operate a motor vehicle on the highways of the Commonwealth when such vehicle is equipped with any device or mechanism, passive or active, to detect or purposefully interfere with or diminish the measurement capabilities of any radar, laser, or other device or mechanism employed by law-enforcement personnel to measure the speed of motor vehicles on the highways of the Commonwealth for law-enforcement purposes. It shall be unlawful to use any such device or mechanism on any such motor vehicle on the highways. It shall be unlawful to sell any such device or mechanism in the Commonwealth. However, provisions of this section shall not apply to any receiver of radio waves utilized for lawful purposes to receive any signal from a frequency lawfully licensed by any state or federal agency.

Don't see how Waze detects or interferes with their ability to measure the speed of your friends vehicle. If the officer is stopping someone on the side of the road and people post there is a police officer, then they are careful not to hit the officer. The police icon in Waze doesn't even mean they are checking a driver's speed.
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