False Safety Camera Freeway Alerts May Not Be False

[poolmon]

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THOSE SO CALLED "FALSE" FREEWAY ALERTS MAY NOT BE FALSE AND HERE IS WHY.

I've noticed that each time I get a 'false" Red Light Camera (RLC) alert while on an Interstate, it has been because there has been a real RLC within 1000 feet of my 9500ix. The RLC was either up above me on an overpass or off to the side at an intersection.

This can be more easily determined by looking at the 9500ix's screen when it alerts. At highway speeds my 9500ix alerts normally extend out to 1000 feet indicated on its display. The "distance to RLC" displayed on the screen may go down by a few hundred feet as I continue to drive after such a "false" alert, BUT, it then starts climbing back up in many cases and the 9500ix in all cases will never say "you have reached your marked location" as it does when approaching a true RLC location that is in front of you on your road (as opposed to off to the side on a different road).

I've also noticed that at slower speeds (like 25mph) I get much less warning, maybe 500 ft (as opposed to 1000 ft at 65mph). It appears to me that the 9500ix RLC alert distance is speed sensetive, so at highway speeds it appears to be trying to reach out to give a further warning since you are closing in faster to the RLC. Therefore, while on a highway at highway speeds, it's possibly reaching out (to the sides) even further to find RLC's.

So next time you get a highway RLC "flase" alert you may want to watch your display as it's probably going to be displaying a real RLC that's off to the side, or above you on another road. At least this has been my experience after almost 9 months of 9500ix use. Obviously, you can exit the highway to search for what might be the true source of the "false" alert if you have the time and "explorer" in you.

Just thought I'd pass this along.

Note: This new thread carries over from the Data Base thread as a seperate thread topic, since it addresses False Alerts more than it does the Data Base.

[MEM-TEK]

Yep. Escort could try to make the 9500ix figure out if the RLC location is off to the side of your direction of travel, but that would consume additional processor time. Thats not a good idea since it is far more desirable for the processor to spend the vast majority of its time processing signals from the radar antenna instead. And, really, the best way to implement this idea is if the RD had a full road map built in just as a GPS navigation system does. Yet that would require a separate and much more powerful processor, greatly upping the price of the RD.