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Comment by Angostura | Hacker News Reader

I imagine if you live on an urban street where (say) kids walk to school and there are various selfish drivers who regularly speed, this could be rather useful.

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I don't see how this helps. What would be useful is for you (and your neighbors) to report the issue to the city and have them install speed bumps and maybe have a speed trap setup. Not everything needs an app.

What percentage of American communities do you think the police force or council would do either of those things on the basis of a request? In Oakland it took years after multiple fatalities at crosswalks for there to be enforcement and road works.

Okay, but all this app does is add a middle man, and that's just going to slow things down. If the city is ignoring complaints and fatalities, why would they pay more attention to this app?

As much as I dislike the survelience aspects, police operated red-light and speed cameras are already a thing. An app isn't going to fix the problem that your police don't care.

>What percentage of American communities do you think the police force or council would do either of those things on the basis of a request?

What percentage of communities are rich suburbs that have more money and staff than they really have a use for.

And IMO just covering that small % of communities would satisfy 99% of people making these requests.

Fair point, though at the same time I don’t see how this app would help any more or less.

How does "reporting to the city" differ from "reporting to the police"? Where I come from the reports to police do influence things like speed traps and speed bumps.

This is probably an unpopular opinion but the police should be involved in that case. Now I know they hardly come out for even big crimes but I still believe citizens should not be trying to be the speed limit police.

You're right. As I read in 1984, surveillance by the citizens, on the citizens, was a very effective tool for maintaining control.

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