Looking Around and Driving (#26)

What Were You Doing When You Should Have Been Driving? (#26). Looking Around and Driving!

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Bad Bumper Stickers and Driving

What Were You Doing When You Should Have Been Driving? (#25)

My kid beat up your honor student bumper sticker and driver rage = distraction.

What is Common Decency? It is conformity to a society and the social and cultural standards of conduct and speech. Decency requires us to hold up a correct attitude with proper behaviors, including modesty, politeness, and manners. A good reputation is achieved through an acceptable standard of living. Each person must display respect for each other regardless of their life experience on the diversity wheel. As individuals, if we place ourselves first, we can not practice common decency, and yet, today’s society is telling us it is okay to have a lack of concern for others. Our society seems to openly and blatantly offend others as a matter of norm, it is okay.

Disco Ball and Driving!

What Were You Doing When You Should Have Been Driving?

Disco Ball and Driving! The music is loud and the beat is high. We can dance if we want to.

Smoking, Drinking Coffee, Talking on the Cell Phone, and Driving!

What Were You Doing When You Should Have Been Driving?

Multi-tasking and Driving. So I am driving toward a traffic light and I plan to turn left. A car is coming through the light so I pause my turn. As I wait, I notice the other driver is talking on the cell phone, smoking a cigarette and holding a hot cup of coffee with no lid.

Obviously the driver is totally unaware of the steep dip in the road just prior to entering the intersection.

As the car hit the dip/bump, I observe the cigarette and cell phone fall into the drivers lap followed by a stream of hot flying coffee. Hopefully the coffee put out the cigarette before it burned the crud out of the drivers legs. Although saying this, the driver was going to be burned either way, so it really doesn't matter. As he drove by, the driver had a look of pain on his face.

I must congratulte the driver on actually keeping on a staight path, but I imagine he was late to wherever he intended to go.

Note: Multi-tasking may reap rewards in the work environment; however, multi-tasking and driving will only reap trouble.

Driving without Hands and Driving

What Were You Doing When You Should Have Been Driving?

Driving without Hands... So I am driving along and enjoying the view when a gentleman drove by me with both hands clasped together behind his head. At first I thought the guy was stretching, but this went on for miles. My curiousity had been engaged and I desired to watch him go onto a turn. Unfortunately I lost the driver over time due to his increased speed.

Note: Unless we are installing autopilot systems in vehicles, I assume he was driving with his knees.

American Hardcore: The History of American Punk Rock 1980-1986

Official Selection 2006 Sundance Film Festival

Throwing Out Trash and Driving!

What Were You Doing When You Should Have Been Driving? (#21)

Throwing Out Trash and Driving! What are people thinking? Keep the world Beautiful!

Note: People have been identified as the primary source of litter (I know this is hard to believe). We need to change our selfish behavior if the litter problem is to be solved.

Recommendation: Always use a vehicle litter bag or otherwise secure items inside a vehicle. It is against the law to throw trash from a vehicle.

In New Mexico we have a serious issue with smokers throwing out lit cigarette butts. Every year thousands of acres burn out of control, devouring people's homes in its path.


Check out the (US) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) website.

The Surfrider Foundation is a nonprofit organization which tries to educate communities on the danger of this bad habit. Most of the trash in our oceans, creeks, lakes and rivers will not come from boaters. Trash on streets often ends up in our waterways by way of drainage ditches. If litter is tossed carelessly from moving vehicles or pedestrians, onto a road surface where rainwater flows freely, there is a very good chance it will travel to an ocean, lake, creek, or river through the storm water system.

Do the right thing by protecting the environment and keeping the world beautiful.

Sleeping and Driving!

What Were You Doing When You Should Have Been Driving? (#20)

Sleeping and Driving!

I don't recommend this form of multi-tasking...

A car that knows the speed limit

Car technology: intelligence soon to surpass most drivers! Check it out

A car that knows the speed limit
10/16/2006 10:16:28 AM, by Nate Anderson

If you've ever found yourself driving in unfamiliar territory, wondering if you are exceeding the speed limit, Siemens VDO has developed a new system that could help you out—in a few years. It's an "electronic traffic sign recognition function" that uses cameras and special software to scan the road ahead for speed limit signs, which the system can identify and then display on the dashboard.
Drivers who are going too fast are warned with a visual signal, but are allowed to continue driving at whatever speed they like. The system can also be tied in with the adaptive cruise control, in which case the car will speed up or slow down to match changes in the speed limit.
Siemens, showing its European focus, says that it wants to help drivers solve a common problem: "is there a speed limit or not?" While this isn't usually what US drivers are wondering, it's easy to blow past limit signs when you're doing 140mph through Austria—and consequently to ring up large traffic tickets when a speed limit suddenly comes into force and Austria's finest have set up a sting a quarter-mile past the sign. Not that I would know.
Siemens VDO now supplies a whole host of such electronic gadgetry to the automobile industry. Last month, for instance, it introduced a Driver Attention System targeted at truck drivers. The DAS uses a small camera and an infrared light to continuously illuminate the driver's features, while software evaluates factors such as head movement and number of eye blinks to determine whether the driver is growing sleepy. If so, the system vibrates the seat. If drowsiness continues, the truck sounds a tone that swells in volume until the driver becomes more alert.

With one if every four German accidents exacerbated by drowsiness, it sounds like cool technology, and Siemens has plans to bring it to cars next. The company says that after further development, it should be possible to combine the Driver Attention System with adaptive cruise control and Siemens' Lane Departure Warning systems so that a car with a sleepy driver could continue at full speed while staying in its lane until the driver grows more alert.
The DAS will soon be available to truck manufacturers, while the speed limit recognition system will make its debut in 2008. No word yet on which companies might use the technology in their vehicles.

Who Is Watching Us Drive Now?

Big Brother is set to watch us drive our vehicles. Why? Check it out here.
Just when we were complaining about speeding and red light cameras,
new research installed in vehicles will watch you while you drive Filed under: Transportation

October Traffic Fines:
1. Picking nose and driving 22 offences @ $50.00 a pick
2. Biting a burger 3 offenses @ $50.00 a bite
3. Looking away at 250 offenses @ $50.00 a glance
4. Whatever else we do while we drive

We're not sure if we like the idea of our car watching us as we drive, but we'll all in favor of any tech that'll make us safer. This past week at the Intelligent Transportation Systems exhibition in London, a new set of cameras mounted on the dashboard in a prototypevehicle will make sure that a driver's attention is focused on the road. According to Motor Authority, the new cameras will be trained on the driver's eyes and will flash a warning light and will sound an alarm if it finds that the driver's eyes aren't staring at the right places at the right times. Furthermore, as New Scientist reports,these new sensors -- developed by researchers at University of Southampton in the UK-- are also able to determine what other cars and objects around the car are ...

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/37127458/

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Writing and Driving!

What Were You Doing When You Should Have Been Driving? (#19)

Writing and Driving!

Big Dog and Driving

What Were You Doing When You Should Have Been Driving?

Dog and Driving or Dog is my pilot?

I observed a guy driving the other day with a huge dog in his lap.

Question: What happens when the dog sees a mailman or a cat, or a squirrel, and so forth. Animals are animals and one can not always predict what an animal will do.

Where is the next accident going to occur?

What are you doing when you should have been driving?

Dancing and Driving!

What Were You Doing When You Should Have Been Driving? (#17)

Dancing and Driving! Dance, Dance, Dance!

Rio Grande Arts and Crafts Festival

280 Artists and Craftsmen. Take a sneak preview at http://www.riograndefestivals.com

Watching Balloons and Driving!

What Were You Doing When You Should Have Been Driving? (#16)

Watching Balloons and Driving!

The Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta is on, so pull into the parking lot and watch the balloons or check out the official website http://www.balloonfiesta.com/

Cost to go to Fiesta park is $10 per car. This fee will be charged at the Balloon Fiesta parking lot with General Admission tickets. Parking is limited!

Cost to watch balloons and drive amounts to much, much more. These costs include minor accidents up to death in the most extreme vehicular homicide cases.

Where is the next accident going to occurr? Accidents happen, they are not planned (in most ethical circumstances).

North Korea's Nuclear Tests "Very Successful"

We interrupt the normally scheduled blog cast to bring you breaking news...

North Korea proceeds with Nuclear weapons testing, against the persistent urging and out cry of the international community.

When the last remaining North Korean was asked how the testing went, he exclaimed, "It was very successful."

Before testing:

North Korea's population of beautiful souls before testing amounted to approximately 23,113,019
(as of July 2006)

After testing:
North Korea's population after testing, was easy to count, as it amounted to just 1
(as of October 2006)

Playing with Hair and Driving!

What Were You Doing When You Should Have Been Driving? (#15)

Playing with Hair and Driving!

Question: Girl! Where is your wandering mind?

Everyone has observed this driving distraction.

My good friend observed someone in Phoenix Arizona smoking a crack pipe while driving the other day. I am adding it to the list! Things that make you go Hmmmm!

I found an excellent resource in the United Kingdom on driving, which I would like to share:
http://www.driving.co.uk/

Brushing Hair and Driving!

What Were You Doing When You Should Have Been Driving? (#14)

Brushing Hair and Driving!

Today, I saw a guy using an electric shaver while driving into work. What is next?

Go Downtown Arts Festival (5th Annual)

Doing Nails and Driving!

What Were You Doing When You Should Have Been Driving? (#13)

Doing Nails and Driving!

Come on! The road is dangerous.

Hint: Pay for the professional manicure and pedicure and enjoy the massage chair and foot massage. $30.00 dollars is much cheaper than running over someone.

Kissing and Driving!

What Were You Doing When You Should Have Been Driving? (#12)

Kissing and Driving! Go to a movie or take it home!

The World According to Shockacomm in Sept 2006

Discipline and Driving!

What Were You Doing When You Should Have Been Driving? (#11)

Discipline and Driving!

Did someone ask, "Where is the next accident going to occur?"

Hint: Let's take this off road! There is a time for everything, but the time to discipline is not in traffic.