Drivers get the message
TWO leading pager companies could be on the road to big bucks by offering their clients a novel new service . . . a police speed trap alert.
Times Paging and BB Telecom keep tabs on police operations and tell their customers where to beware of cameras and radar guns.
And a Sunday Morning Post test drive discovered the system was right on target last week. Times Paging staff said their service included printing out a message in Chinese. The warning coyly advises drivers to 'be careful of' the targeted area and 'drive slowly'.
Staff at BB Telecom said subscribers to their service could call the company's secretarial station to receive the latest information on police camera positions.
Our reporters checked their route 15 minutes before driving along Ngau Tau Kok Road towards Mongkok, and were warned that speed detection equipment had been set up at Ngau Tau Kok Estate. The trap was there.
Times Paging delivered a message warning: 'On Fung Tak Road, heading towards Wong Tai Sin, drivers should be careful and drive slowly.' Again, a speed trap was present.
Times Paging spokesman Connie Wat Siu-ling said the information was part of the service's traffic report, but was not included simply to draw customers.
'Some of our customers may drive and wish to know where the cameras are so we offer this service twice daily, Monday through Saturday,' she said.
BB Telecom Customer Service assistant manager Kings Lau said his company had included information on police speed checks as a customer drawcard. He said his staff called taxi service operators for up-to-the-minute information on speed traps.
The police are unconcerned by the warnings. Traffic Headquarters Superintendent Elaine Tsui Yee-lin said: 'We don't make it a big secret where we set speed detection equipment. We only want people to drive at an approved speed.
'If people know there is such equipment installed, they will act appropriately when driving. Either way, the police achieve their aim.' In fact, Kowloon West Traffic Enforcement and Control acting Chief Inspector Hong Wung-lurk likes the service so much he has subscribed to it - and hinted more frequent warnings would not be amiss.
'If the paging services added fictitious locations, that would be fine with us, because they would be helping police to keep drivers at proper speeds,' he said.
