However, technology may be helping drunk drivers stay one step ahead of police.

If you have a smart-phone, like a Droid or iPhone, there’s a free app that you can download called PhantomAlert. If you’ve had some drinks and you decide to drive, PhantomAlert will tell you if there are any DWI checkpoints on the way home. And if that’s not enough, there are plenty of Twitter pages giving similar warnings.

Some believe this use of technology is a contributor to the recent drop in DWI checkpoint arrests. “They use the phone for everything, to warn each other about everything,” said Albuquerque driver Magda Apodaca. “People are going to be using that to avoid the DWI checkpoints, and that could be why the number of arrests are down right now,” said Albuquerque driver Carolyn Johnson.

The city gave Eyewitness News 4 some figures. We crunched them further, and we found out the number of DWI checkpoint arrests are down about two-thirds from ten years ago to where APD is arresting on average about eight drivers per checkpoint.

City Public Safety Director Darren White does not think social networking or phone apps are the reason for the drop. “I think that happened with the advent of the cell phone,” said White. “There may be some of that, but I think with the reductions that we’re seeing, we’re giving drunks way too much credit to be able to use technology to keep up with us.”

White thinks New Mexico drivers are simple getting the hint after numerous high-profile fatal crashes and an aggressive DWI awareness campaign launched by Governor Bill Richardson.

White does not think all the drunks are checking their phones before leaving the bars. “I’m not saying that doesn’t happen,” said White. “I’m just saying I don’t think it’s to the point where we’re seeing these reductions across the board.” White says the number of alcohol-related crashed are down as well. And he says the bars are doing more to make sure people are not getting behind the wheel drunk.

There are several ways to avoid a speeding ticket, legal and illegal, I don’t want you go to jail, so I’ll only cover the legal ways.

1. Red light camera GPS detector.

2. Radar detector.

3. PhantomALERT GPS-based software for SmartPhone, BlackBerry, iPhone and Android mobile device.

I personally recommend the third method, you can find more information about how to beat speeding tickets here.

Joe Scott has an answer to their nervous prayers.

The 39-year-old D.C. resident has invented a GPS application that alerts motorists to speed traps and red-light cameras. He is marketing his PhantomAlert software as a way to help motorists avoid becoming entangled in the rapidly expanding web of traffic-enforcement cameras.

“Michigan Avenue at Trinity, or the I-395 tunnel — that camera is vicious,” Mr. Scott said.

Mr. Scott’s program has 10,000 subscribers who together have logged 110,000 speed traps and red-light cameras across the country. The technology is similar to the GPS Angel and Escort Inc.’s Passport, detectors that run off a GPS database of enforcement locations.

These tools can be useful in Virginia and the District, which prohibit radar detector use, and in Maryland, where a new law allows local governments to place speed cameras in highway construction zones and expand their use in school zones. Gov. Martin O’Malley signed the bill May 19.

A small alliance of drivers rights groups is attempting to put the new Maryland law to a statewide referendum. Ronald Ely, editor of stopbigbrothermd.org, one of the groups participating in the referendum drive, said tools like Mr. Scott’s give motorists a way to fight back to what he calls unfair enforcement.

“Driving laws were negotiated with the assumption they would be enforced by humans,” Mr. Ely said. “When that changes, people need to ask for a change to the laws, or get some kind of technical assistance.”

Randolph Pribgen purchased the PhantomAlert program for his GPS navigator a year ago. It was mostly for safety, he said, but it does help escape the long arm of the law given the growing numbers of speed cameras in Maryland.

“I love kids, so it’s good for school zones,” said Mr. Pribgen, 43, of Newmarket, Md. “Sometimes I’m driving, in outer space somewhere, and that alert just brings me back to Earth.”

The technology alerts Mr. Pribgen a few hundred yards before his car reaches a school, speed camera or known enforcement zone, flashing a red light on his GPS unit and sounding a voice warning.

The drivers who purchase the software help maintain and improve its accuracy by adding new speed traps they spot. The information on the Google map program uploads to Mr. Pribgen’s GPS and tells him the proximity and type of trap he is approaching.

Police departments across the country are not opposed to GPS systems like Mr. Scott’s because they provide public information available on police Web sites.

“[GPS systems] are perfectly acceptable,” said Lucille Baur, a spokeswoman for the Montgomery County Police Department. “We have no desire to hide the location of these cameras.”

Ms. Baur said road signs already warn drivers about the cameras. Montgomery uses red-light cameras and speed cameras on residential roads where the speed limit is 35 mph or lower.

Mr. Scott said his product, available online in versions that cost $40 to $120, is designed to raise awareness and to “help GPS owners to legally avoid unjust traffic tickets.”

He said it is not right to use traffic enforcement cameras as a means to raise revenue. He supports steps California has taken to reduce red-light violations, such as raising fines but lengthening the time of yellow lights.

“But keeping it short, then charging $40 to $50 for the ticket — that smells like revenue to me,” he said.

If you run a red light in Virginia Beach, expect a picture in the mail and a $50 fine. The city has put up red light cameras at four of the city’s most dangerous intersections, driving some people crazy, compelling others to fight back.

Kelly Miltier’s GPS starts beeping as he approaches Military Highway and Indiana River Road. On it, a database he downloaded from the website Phantomalert.com. Miltier says, “If you got the program, it beeps, you’re going to slow down.” That is because the program contains information on more than a hundred-thousand areas, reported by other drivers as speed traps, school zones, driving under the influence checkpoints and red light cameras. Miltier describes it by saying “It’s evened the playing field for the driver versus the ticketing authority.”

Unlike traditional radar detectors, authorities say Phantom Alert is completely legal. The company’s web site also has Google maps, with driver warnings for just about every city in the United States. In Virginia Beach, little red boxes mean red light cameras. Expect to see more of them, at Dam Neck Road and General Booth Boulevard, starting next week.

In all, 20 cameras city-wide are expected to generate about $300,000 in fine money for Virginia Beach. So it might surprise you that the officer in charge of the red light cameras told NewChannel 3 that, “I like Phantom Alert. I think it is a great program.” Officer Brian Walters says these cameras aren’t about making money, they are simply here to make people slow down. Walters says, “The officer’s job is to get people to obey the law, not necessarily catching somebody.”

While Walters likes Phantom Alert, he thinks the company is driving a hard bargain, charging between $10 a month to $100 for a lifetime membership. Meanwhile, the city itself posts red light camera locations on its own website and on roads leading up to the cameras. But at Miltier points out, “that sign is not gonna beep and talk to you” and “it is a $100 for life. Two of these tickets and it’s paid for itself.”

At the very least, it makes Miltier feel like he really is in the driver’s seat and ahead of the curve.

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