r/UnethicalLifeProTips • u/donrcelts14 • Mar 31 '21

Travel ULPT: When traveling on the interstate, put google maps on satellite mode to show the upcoming U-turns that state troopers typically camp out on.

Edit: I gotta thank the dude who sent me over here, cause I posted this on r/LifeProTips and got a lot of hate there. Then my submission got removed. Idk how this is unethical. Time to reflect on my moral compass.

To answer some questions:

  1. Regarding Waze. I live in Northern New England and people don’t bother to use it because of a combination of shotty reception and a small aging population. Beautiful place to live if you can find a way to make a good income. Remote workers have been buying houses by the boatload.. But I digress. Waze does the trick when I travel a couple hours south.

  2. I’m not suggesting that satellite mode shows the cop car sitting there, I’m just saying that in the right environment you can see the paved area in the middle of the highway.

  3. This works best in rural/mountainous regions because our interstates are carved through the forest. At eye level, the U-turns are often hidden behind man made mole hills, behind trees, and behind boulders. Sometimes you drive by a cop and never even see them. Satellite mode is a great equalizer because in this environment you can see the U-turn as a clearly defined line in the landscape between the north bound and south bound lanes. I understand why this isn’t helpful on a 12 lane highway with a cement barrier in between.

  4. I own a radar detector and it is the great equalizer. However the smart cops don’t just leave their radar on. They’ll shoot it at you as you drive by. It never hurts to put multiple tools to use when evening out the playing field. “Trust but verify.”

And I’d just like to thank people for all the awards! I had to travel like 50 miles in 35 minutes yesterday and this strategy did the trick. I only passed like 40 cars on that trip to give you a sense of traffic density.

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36

u/truth-is-gay Mar 31 '21

True in the US too but how many people are gonna pull out their phone while driving to mark down where they saw a cop

That feature is rarely accurate in my experience

94

u/saro13 Mar 31 '21

I do it when I can, I’ve been saved before so I want to do my part

50

u/ItsAlkron Apr 01 '21

Cops? Tagged. Roadkill? Tagged. Car on shoulder? Tagged. Object on road? Tagged.

Do I do it because I'm a good person? No. Do I do it for the points? Heck yes. Is my leaderboard broken so I can't see friends? Yes. But I still do it in case it ever comes back just so I can win over everyone I know.

27

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '21

And for those little messages you get on Friday telling you how good a person you are and how many people you've helped this week.

11

u/duotoned Apr 01 '21

I was driving through Chicago and tagged a cop near a toll once, I felt so good when I found out how many people I helped

4

u/ItsAlkron Apr 01 '21

Those are a nice perk.

7

u/truth-is-gay Apr 01 '21

There are points for this?

7

u/ItsAlkron Apr 01 '21

For Android, when you have the left panel open with the search bar, tap your name to open My Waze menu, then scroll down to Scoreboard. My all time and weekly scoreboards work. It's the My Friends panel doesn't work. Seems my Facebook connection isn't working anymore.

142

u/sammyno55 Apr 01 '21

I always put the cops on Waze. Group data FTW.

75

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '21

You're a good person. From a fellow snitcher to another, we all thank you.

22

u/PetrifiedW00D Apr 01 '21

I feel like we should have a different name for that, because snitching implies the opposite.

3

u/mtlaw13 Apr 01 '21

And we all know what happens to snitches, now don't we?

2

u/doggxyo Apr 01 '21

They get stitches, bitches.

3

u/FrenchFriedMushroom Apr 01 '21

Wait....I thought snitches got bitches.

23

u/blind3agle Apr 01 '21

Waze when traveling long distances. GMaps when Waze takes you to a road that’s 3 blocks from your real destination.

1

u/jizztickles Apr 01 '21

How do you report it? Is it distracting to do so while driving?

3

u/sammyno55 Apr 01 '21

Say, "OK Waze, report police".

22

u/MrRiski Apr 01 '21

Most people won't pull out a phone to do it but I drive all day everyday with gmaps running in my semi. Almost every single cop is reported atleast once by the time I get to them. If I see one not added which is rare I reach over and make 2 taps on the screen mounted to my dash and report it. It's not perfect but has certainly saved me from tickets in my personal car.

19

u/Blaaamo Apr 01 '21

I can do it with a voice command so it's getting more accurate

3

u/sandsnatchqueen Apr 01 '21

Its super accurate for me. Cops tend to park out in the same spots anyway so if I'm driving on certain roads I know that cops occasionally park out in certain areas.

I'm sure it also has a lot to do with how many people drive on that road though. When its on the highway it is pretty damn accurate. On side roads with few people passing by its less common. At the same time... cops generally don't camp out on roads with very few people so... it works out the majority of the time.

2

u/Bananas_N_Champagne Apr 01 '21

I have my phone mounted in front of the CD player. And usually when I do report a cop or accident or something I'm on my way somewhere far and already using google maps to see what time I'll be there

1

u/robywar Apr 01 '21

If you have Android Auto running in your car it's super easy to report.

1

u/Bpesca Apr 01 '21

I do it all the time... phone on a holder w waze open. 2 buttons.

Boom.

1

u/LizzieBordensPetRock Apr 09 '21

Must be regional. If anything I get more warnings about cops that have moved than not being warned about a cop.