WINNIPEG, MB. – There’s a new device on the market that is not only going to save your bank account, but it could save lives as well.

Imagine this: you are driving your van full of kids to school. After a summer of not needing to slow down to 30, you forget that the calendar turning over to September means that lower speed limit is now in effect. Now you’re speeding in a school zone, which is a big no-no. It’s a potential headache for your wallet, and is unnecessarily dangerous to young people on their way to school. If only there had been a way to av-

Your TrapTap device is flashing yellow to indicate that you’re in a school zone. No ticket for you, and it’s thanks to TrapTap.

What is TrapTap?

TrapTap came into being less than a year ago, an idea spawned by a couple of entrepreneurs getting together for some adult beverages.

Back in November of 2015, I was out for drinks with one of my co-founders, Dustin Refvik, brainstorming ideas,͟ said TrapTap co-founder Bryce North. To me, speeding tickets have always been an issue. I get tons ever year, and I always wondered if there was a way to make my Fitbit vibrate on my wrist in order to remind me where these speed traps are.

Dustin suggested that they create something to go on the dashboard that sends signals to the driver. With an idea in hand, in January of 2016 they set out on creating what would become TrapTap. They teamed up with local engineers Gord Parke and Adam Tsouras. Development for their Kickstarter campaign started in February in order to campaign and raise funds.

We made a video and a campaign page, and launched that in March. In 60 days we had over half a million dollars in pre-sales to make this project come to life.

An 8 Billion Dollar Industry

Each year in North America, 8 billion dollars is spent on speeding tickets. That’s a lot of money that could be spent happily elsewhere.

How TrapTap works

It’s an oversized Oreo cookie that sits on your dash, and blinks different colours for different speed traps, said Bryce. Right out of the box, it comes pre-mapped with every red light camera, school zone and speed limit in 63 countries.

The TrapTap device flashes red if you come in proximity to a red light camera, yellow if you’re approaching a school zone, and green if you’re over the speed limit and blue for police and mobile radar.

Derek Gagnon, Smart Biz for The Manitoba Post

Photo supplied