Your Ad Here!

No... actually, I hope I don't ever "get the picture"!

At least, not in the mail.

Well done!

the less than brilliant state legislators we have here in the State of Arizona do not see your tongue in cheek revenue generating ideas because they might try to adopt them. Someones brother-in-law is bound to benefit from one or most of the ideas you have listed and the rest might be history!

Seems I recall seeing statistics showing that fatalities involving autos have generally decreased from, say, the 50's until present, due largely in part to safety features introduced such as airbags, ABS brakes, etc. despite increasing numbers of drivers on the roads.

However, I don't recall if the same holds true for the number of non-fatal accidents especially as today we seem to have more distracted drivers.

I wonder if the solution would be to decrease the distractions both within vehicles (e.g., limiting cell phone use) and outside of the vehicles (banning such things as large electronic roadside billboards) or if the driver's examination should include more than a written and driving test. In the latter case, one would also take some type of reaction test to assess awareness and response time.

So, in other words, screen the potential drivers more adequately. It's understood, however, that mental and physical agility in itself wouldn't be enough, given that drivers aged 16-19 are involved in a large number of accidents. Is there a test that measures judgment?

Tongue-in-cheek?

I'm dead serious.

(Doesn't Garmin post advertisements on your GPS?)

Another likely group of advertisers are auto repair shops. I'm sure red light runners are their most frequent customers...

Or, perhaps, the POI Factory and the GPS manufacturers themselves could be future advertisers in red-light and Speed-camera ticket photos.

..."If you had a Garmin, you could have known this was a photo-enforcement intersection"...Could be a good slogan; like, well, the old Burma Shave highway signs.

Which makes me wonder...Why don't states like Virginia - that ban the use of radar detectors - also ban the use of GPS databases like POI Factory's red-light and speed camera databases?

Both the radar detector and the RLC/Speed-camera databases give the motorist an expectancy of the law enforcement monitor ahead. (I would say a radar detector and the Speed-camera database are performing the EXACT same function.)

Would these states ban the POI Factory if they could, but it's just not enforceable???

I believe based on what I have read and heard...

Police don't mind the red light camera detection, they believe it helps people become more alert around these intersections.

Oh...huh...good for them.

But, why then does a motorist (with an illegal radar detector) who becomes "more alert" around the hand-held radar gun make the police "unhappy"?

Coarse they are only illegal in a few states. They also say that California has a 'no windshield mount' law which would put most radar detectors there against the law also.

Still doesn't make any sense...a GPS with a speed-camera database and a radar detector perform the exact same function - alerting the motorist to an enforcement action ahead.

In California it's legal to place a windshiled GPS within "a 7-inch square area in the lower corner of the windshield farthest removed from the driver (the passenger side) or in a 5-inch square area in the lower corner of the windshield nearest to the driver (the lower left corner of the windshield)."

(LOL...It seems obvious the 5-inches and 7-inches are just arbitrary, made-up numbers. It is the slope of the windscreen that determines the area-of-view blocked from the driver. e.g. 5-inches on a Jeep's vertical windscreen blocks alot more view than 5-inches on a sloped Farrari windscreen. )

No Garmin does not Advertise on my GPSr, I opt out by Paying for traffic. And if someone is dumb enough to get snapped in the first place, the city has no business making more money with a cockamamie idea like yours.

Distractions.
Thats the key.

And that kinna stuck me big when I was watching a bunch of cnet videos on new 'car tech' as they go thru the 'tech' of off the showroom cars.
WOW!!! The TONS of menus and options..and buttons..and menus..and menus..and menus in these headunits are INSANE!
Again..it 'struck me' that..DANG! If a driver was just switching a mode from an ipod over to his usb connection while tapping in his sirus station (and navigating thru a SEA of menus, that is certainly 'distracting'. How can you possible drive in a straight line!

It hit me because..well..I consider myself a 'driver'. I drive to 'enjoy' it. My use of my cars, even simple utilitarian trips, are things I enjoy. For me, half the fun is just getting there.
I own three firebirds. (Two formulas and a trans am..total of 1300HP between em..heheh).
I like to feel the road..I hate soft suspension and goofy drive by wire garbage. It 'removes' you from the road and the car as far as I'm concerned.
I can 'feel' the pavement, I can 'feel' the road conditions.. I can 'feel' the weight of the car shift in a turn.
The 'by product' is that I believe I'm a very alert driver.

The gadgets? I personally dont like to be distracted while driving. My head units on my 'sports cars' are minimalistic. I dont want (or need) overly complex 'menu systems' just to change a stereo. I'm an IT guy..I LOVE TECH..but not while I'm enjoying my drive and my cars.

One of the reasons I like the nuvi is the quick and intuitive menu. And besides, when I use it, I already have my destination's planned and ready to go. I set it before I leave..and thats it.

So I agree on the issue of 'distraction'. Matter o' fact, I think its at the top of the list. I can't imagine NOT being completely focused on the road, your enemies...err fellow drivers surrounding you, and how the car is performing. (HEY! In a muscle car, everybody is out to get you! heheh)

I think I have a solution!
All cars should be sports cars..Only mustangs and camaros should be sold.

Minimize the gadgets in your car. Use a handsfree for calls..if you HAVE TO MAKE THAT CALL! ANY CALL should be just for info only!
It should be...
"Hey! I'm gonna be late..see ya soon. goodbye"
Not...
"HI!! Havent heard from ya for a while! It seems like..like...so FOREVER!.. Did you have a good time with us at dinner two nights ago? Oh how are the kids..really? Ya..and yesterday..I SOOO lost my favorite socks! I looked everywhere..and wouldnt you know it, I found them in the last place I looked. Hold on, I have change menus to play my faaavs on the stereo.".

SHUT THE F UP with USLESS conversations.
I'm NOT a zealot with car cell phone use. I believe in personal responsibility...but COME ON FOLKS! Do you really need to gab gab gab some USELESS conversations while driving?

Enjoy the drive! Its an adventure!!
Keep you eyes open, you never know when your enemy..err..fellow road goers will put you in a situation you have to react against.

But..thats just me.

(stumbles off soapbox.. )

You paid $60 in advertising revenue directly to Garmin, and you call my ideas cockamamie?

Now, that's priceless...

You have concisely illistrated my point...ad space GENERATES REVENUE.