Putting GPS and radar detection together started in 2001 with Uniden’s GPSRD. It tried to do too much with altimeter, compass, ETA times of arrival, speed, longitude and latitude, and tracing your locations. It was a great idea, before its time! It revolutionized false alert suppression by manually eliminating them. You told it what to do! Its birth was before red light cameras with communities looking at easy money without doing their research on red light camera effectiveness. The Federal Highway Administration studied (FHWA-HRT--5-048) red light cameras for four years at 132 equipped intersections and found red light cameras cause more accidents than they prevent. A study commissioned by the City of San Diego found an increase of 140% in rear end collisions at red light camera intersections. The Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A & M University study (report# 0-0427-2) in May of 2005 found at 181 intersections, increasing the yellow of traffic signals by one second reduced red light violations by 53% while reducing intersection collisions by 40%, Cities are not looking at the research, only the easy money. Now, red light cameras dot more and more intersections. Open your wallet.
     Three new systems have been introduced with built-in GPS to locate and warn you of red light camera intersections and other speed awareness safety locations like school zones, work zones, changing speed limits, etc. Adding GPS to radar detectors will revolutionize the market. Escort’s 9500i is portable while Cobra’s XRS R9G and Scotland’s Cheetah GPS Mirror Driver Safety System are mounted to the vehicle. The number one complaint from radar detector owners is false alerts. False alerts are caused by other uses on police radar frequencies of X and K band like automatic door openers, burglar alarms, terrestrial microwave, vehicle braking systems, railroad signal systems and collision avoidance radar. These other uses are allowed by the FCC. The 9500i eliminates false alerts with its TrueLock® feature requiring you to press the mute button twice and a third time for confirmation to mark and eliminate the false alert in the future. To mark safety locations of red light cameras, school zones, etc. hit the “mark” button and the 9500i’s computer memorizes the location. As you approach the location in the future the detector will alert you to a “marked” location and count down in feet based on your speed to the location. When the 9500i receives a radar or laser alert its SpeedAlert® alerts you showing your speed. You choose voice or no voice alerts. www.escortradar.com. The 9500i can be transferred from vehicle to vehicle.
    Cobra’s XRS R9G is a semi-permanent mounted GPS radar detection system with unique features. You control the upper wind shield mounted system with an infrared remote control called the RUD Control. This remote can display your speed, direction, latitude and longitude. It also tells you of battery life remaining and vehicle voltage. Its unique IntelliMute® feature senses the vehicle’s RPM which you set and at slow speeds ignores false alerts while remaining vigilant to emergency vehicles with optical pre-emption systems with its StrobeAlert®. It has a voice or tone mode. As you approach an intersection stored in its computer as a red light location, the remote circle gets larger and larger and you will hear a “chime”. You can also manually mark locations. Its speed feature alerts you when you exceed the pre-set speed limit. The XRS R9G is preloaded with red light locations. New red light locations can be down loaded from Cobra’s web site of www.cobra.com.
     Cheetah’s, www.speedcheetah.com, GPS integration system comes from Scotland. Red light and speed cameras dot almost every intersection in Great Britain. Recently, the country installed over 500 GATSO speed cameras. It now has over 5,000 speed or red light cameras. Cheetah’s large mirror fits neatly over you existing rear view mirror and can be interfaced with radar detectors and laser counter measures via its Datalink feature. Its on board computer stores red light locations world-wide and may be updated with interface to Cheetah’s web site. You can also manually mark locations. The GPS Mirror is the communication central for the system showing drivers GPS location. It talks saying “Red Light Camera Ahead” while stating the speed limit. After clearing the red light location, the mirror chimes and shows in yards distance from the location. By intuitively knowing the speed limit, it eliminates all false alerts below the set speed limit with its F.A.S.T.® feature. Your current speed is displayed in the mirror and you receive a warning if you are excessively speeding.