
The best way to break a habit is to prevent it, not punish it.
What started out as a passion project to help drivers save money on the road, ended up taking a very unexpected twist. Last year our team launched a solution to assist drivers in avoiding speeding tickets called TrapTap. This small, yet intelligent device, was designed to sit on your car’s dash and inform you the location of every speed trap, school zone, speed limit, and red light camera in your city.
We were very successful. Not only is the device portable and extremely simple to use, it exceeded consumer expectations of informing drivers well in advance of potential ticketed areas. And to top it off, we built a product that was legal everywhere and worked in more than 60 countries. However, we quickly learned the device had more of an impact around another area of driving, than a tool to simply avoid speed traps. TrapTap quickly became a product that people bought to keep them safe on the road. As they bluntly claimed, “it really makes me be a better driver!”
That is a very difficult thing to sell: the concept of better driving. Ask yourself now, do you think you’re a good driver? The majority of us claim we are, and probably don’t need another voice telling us to be safer.
So how do you sell a device or a service that promotes safe driving? You show them. Claims and testimonials from your customers are important, but the tracked and measured data points are the powerful proof points backing these accolades. The data we collected quickly proved that our customers were unknowingly speeding, and after driving with TrapTap saw significant changes in driving habits and behavior. Even our team was surprised to see that drivers that stick to road signs are few and far between.
This data compared average speeds of users in the same environment, separated by users who used TrapTap and those who did not. The results showed that not only does TrapTap prevent traffic violations, it also dramatically shapes the driving behaviors of its users by making them more aware. Drivers using TrapTap sped less than drivers without the device. In fact, drivers dramatically slowed down right after their TrapTap warned them when they were speeding, entering a school zone, or approaching a dangerous intersection. It acted as a visual nudge for drivers to quickly check their speed and in turn, slow down.


What Percentage of People Slow Down After an Alert?
It’s important to note that there is a significant trend towards drivers reducing their speed after TrapTap provides an alert. The table below shows that drivers reduce their speed 80% of the time after receiving a camera alert at medium speeds. This figure is 84% for school alerts at the same range of speeds. Even on the low end of the scale, TrapTap is still able to influence the speeds of its drivers 50% of the time.

Not only are drivers slowing down after each TrapTap alert, after 30 days of driving we are seeing changes in driver behavior and an overall reduction in speed.
Click here to see the full study performed in Winnipeg, Canada
From these series of experiments we can confidently conclude that most drivers on the road aren’t incapable of noticing school zone signs or speed limit changes, but rather they focus on keeping up with the flow of traffic. In the hustle and bustle of busy streets, while you try to figure out where you’re going, how to get there, while watching the cars ahead and behind you, it’s easy to miss reading a sign. We put drivers to the test in some of the busiest and highest traffic ticket areas and the results showed a significant difference in driver behavior. Drivers slowly increased their speed or maintained it if the road speed changed, but quickly reduced speed once they saw TrapTap’s speed warnings light up.
Why Does This All Matter?
When people hear about TrapTap, we get the same questions over and over again: “Why don’t people just follow the speed limit and slow down?” We 100% agree. In fact, if it were that easy, there would be no speeding tickets and the world would be a better place. However, here is the issue: speeding tickets do not stop speeding. A study done by Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine proves that punitive measures such as traffic violations do not actually stop repeat offenders. And these offenders, are often first time or not frequent offenders.
What does work are proactive measures. If we are able to well inform drivers in advance to slow down and to correct themselves, then we have a much more responsive (and proven) method of reducing speed, mitigating related fatalities and violations. Now, couple this with a device that eliminates the need for distracting devices such as in-car entertainment, NAV systems, and smartphone apps that take our focus away from the road.
Our focus at TrapTap has shifted away from a means to avoid tickets to a way to enforce driver safety. The many people who use our device have given us surprising feedback of how much they unknowingly and consistently speed.
So while you may think you are a safe and responsible driver, remember that safe driving is developed by a habit. We guarantee you will be surprised how this habit has transformed during your driving years by other fellow motorists. TrapTap is designed to offer a way to quickly shape your driving behavior and be your eyes on the road, informing you how fast you should drive.
