Slashdot Mirror
California Wants To Put E-Ads On License Plates
techmuse writes "The San Jose Mercury News reports that the California state legislature wants to put electronic advertising on license plates. The plate would display standard plate information when the car is moving, but would also display ads when the car is stopped for more than 4 seconds (say, at a red light). Not distracting or annoying at all! 'The bill has received no formal opposition. It passed unanimously through the Senate last month and is scheduled to be heard Monday by the Assembly Transportation Committee.'"
You stay classy California.
Oh goody - programmable number plates. What could possibly go wrong. I can just imagine how happy the jackers are going to be - no need to switch plates, just upload a custom firmware and you're gold.
Spend too much money -> need money -> get more money with stupid schemes -> spend too much money -> ....
Repeat
The idea is cool, but I would be really pissed if someone could put ads on my car without my consent. But how else will they rake in the money for the state? (Maybe make it optional and split the ad revenue with the driver?)
Perhaps accepting the advertising could result in lower license or insurance fees.
What if it gets the Blue Screen of Death?
I don't think electronic ads would be that interesting on license plates, but how about a game of Tetris? The car behind could honk once to rotate left, and honk twice to rotate right. This could really reduce boredom in traffic jams!
"No, I didn't get to choose the bacon ad."
I can't believe no one has asked this yet.
True, it's culturally very different. In Germany "30mph advised" means "it'd take WET ice and summer-tires to make this curve dangerous in 70mph", whereas in parts of Norway, "30 mph advised" means "if you enter this curve in 50mph, you're unlikely to exit it in one piece"
California is totally into green technology lately. I've got a great idea for them. Normal non-powered license plates. Once created they use no energy and produce no emissions.
Yes, it's safe to ignore those cautionary signs, most of the time. But, you should always be aware of them. Dead Man's Curve on I-90 in Cleveland Ohio pretty much means what it says. The Indian Stairway in Oklahoma says 25 mph on every curve, and you can do 35 on most of them, but two of those curves mean exactly what they say. There are a lot more.
And, if you're driving a truck or a camper, you had better pay attention too. We have a curve three miles north of my house in Arkansas, with warning signs that say "35 MPH". I can do ~65 in any of my kid's sports cars - but big trucks and campers alike have gone off that curve while doing ~40 - 45 MPH.
My own personal rule of thumb, is to slow to within 15 MPH of what the sign says BEFORE getting to the curve, then adjust as I see fit as I actually enter the curve.
I've found a few curves in W. Virginia and N. Carolina that scared the crap out of me, too. My rule of thumb was dangerously to fast for them! It sucks to get into the curve, then realize that it gets sharper before it straightens out!
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
That would be cool. Apart from that it's all fail.
No sig today...
People drive at what *they* perceive a safe speed to be, not what is a safe speed.
People also drive at a distance behind other cars at which they perceive to be safe.
How many people stay the requisite 3 seconds behind other cars? (or even longer on wet/icey roads)
How many people are aware of why that 3 second rule exists and understand it enough to obey it?
The point here is that people will drive in a manner that is neither safe for themselves or others on the road because they can and because they think it is ok without understanding why it isn't.
The state and federal taxes are not related. It does not matter how much the people of California pay to the federal government, only how much they pay to their own state. Now if your saying that the forty billion dollar difference is not making up for unfunded mandates at the federal level, well boo hoo, that still does not help California's problem.
California's problem is based in part on too many entitlements, too much pay and benefits to the government workers, and far too many people off the tax rolls. The amounts going to pay government employee pay, pensions, and benefits, is staggering and only getting worse as politicians pay that group to keep themselves in power.
No, having that forty billion extra won't save California, they need to have reasonable expenditures before any amount of income matters. The sad part is, many states in the Northeast US are in worse shape but you never hear of it
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
Now that's a good idea. That way if you ever run across an armored pheasant you'll still knock that sucker down. And since DU is pyrophoric by the time you get there he'll be cooked, too.
> ...it's designed to display warnings for local traffic conditions so it
> presumably has built-in GPS to know where you are.
Short-range roadside transmitters would suffice for that (paid for by the company so that they can sell local ads). However, this is an opportunity to get state-owned black boxes onto every car in the state. Initially, of course, Californians will be assured that no information will be gathered. Then the exceptions will start creeping in. Finally, a connector will be mandated and the plate plugged into the vehicle CAN bus.
It will be a felony to meddle with the plate in any way, including suppressing the ads.
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
what do the powered license plates display when they break?
PC_LOAD_AD
Reply to That ||