Woolf camera alert band

1st August 2016

Speed camera detector | Bluetooth | Fines

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We really ought not to give this device the oxygen of publicity. But there are other implications here that make it worthy of a mention. Barely. It's a wristband for bikers that talks to your mobile phone via the Bluetooth thingy hook-up system, and it vibrates to warn you of approaching speed cameras, whether fixed or mobile. And not just speed cameras, but red light traffic cameras. It's a crowd-funding project looking for some development cash, and the promise is that once it goes to market it will save you cash thereby helping us all continue our speeding antics.

The guys, and girls, behind this latest techno law-flouting device are a quintet of youthful Italians. At least three of 'em ride high powered sports bikes, which will probably surprise no one. They're looking for €90,000 to get this thing off the ground and onto as many wrists as possible. They're promising all backers that in the event that the crowdfunding project fails, everyone will get all their dosh back.

The system is underpinned by a database of over 100,000 cameras in 66 countries. The devices, which are supposedly waterproof, comfortable and reliable, will cost €139 when manufacture gets underway in March 2017. But if you get in on the ground floor (i.e. now) you can buy yours for €99. Alternately, for €890 you can get a 10-person club set.

"We are ready to set your speed free," is the boast. But what it really says, as we've already suggested, is that this device will help you break the law with impunity. That might not bother you as an individual. But keep in mind that such devices also allow the other guy/girl to ride/drive at speed and avoid the cameras, and he/she might not be as competent or as lucky as yourself, and he/she might well be riding/driving something less forgiving.

The battery in this gadget will last for 15 days if used for 2 hours per day. That's the promise. The recharge time is reckoned to be 3 hours.

"The wristband for real bikers. It's cheaper than your first speeding fine." Or so we're advised. However, the real cost of speeding is often a lot more than we like to be reminded of.

So we all ought to ride or drive around like saints, huh? Well the correct answer is "yes", we should. But we ain't gonna. You have to be realistic. However, being realistic also means keeping a weather eye on our excesses and weaknesses, but this gadget, like radar detectors, works against that principle. It raises the accident risk for everyone.

Still it's 100% legal. So far. That's the proud claim. However, it can only be a matter of time before someone develops a police detector for burglars, a parent detector for kiddie fiddlers, and maybe even a little gizmo for terrorists to help them also go about their unlawful business. We've made that point elsewhere on Sump about something else. But it's no less true now.

The human profit gene is alive and well.

Oops! We seem to have mislaid the web address for these guys.

UPDATE (7th September 2016): This crowdfunding attempt fell way short of its €90,000 target by raising just €18,000. Consequently, any funds accrued from around 120 backers are, apparently, being returned. Meanwhile, the Woolf boys and girls and making a renewed call for development cash.

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