Good And Bad Reasons For Texting Behind The Wheel
from the good-samirtains,-bad-drivers... dept
Ever wanted to communicate with a driver in another car? There are plenty of legitimate reasons why you might. They could have a faulty light, you may have accidentally scratched their car while parking (and are honest enough to admit it) or they may be double-parked and blocking you. Textually points out a new service (which sounds very familiar) in Malaysia that would let someone send a text message to the owner of another car, simply by knowing their license plate. You send a text message to a specific number with the plate number in the message, and the service matches it up and forwards the message — but only if (and it’s quite an “only if”) the other car owner has registered with the same service. Of course, while there may be good reasons for this service, it’s likely many might want to use it for less than friendly reasons as well, such as stalking or yelling at a bad driver. Of course, the biggest reason this might be a bad idea is suggested in different Textually post: an increasing number of fatal car accidents from idiots texting while driving.
Comments on “Good And Bad Reasons For Texting Behind The Wheel”
Already tried in Australia
A similar service had been launched in Australia in late 2001. You used to be able to register your mobile number and license plate number at http://www.driversms.com.au. A quick check of the website reveals that the site has now disappeared. I did find a reference to the application on google at http://www.zdnetindia.com/biztech/services/sms/stories/41242.html
Maybe Malaysia with a more text-message friendly society can make it work. However, I doubt it. Australia is also a very SMS friendly society and no one saw any benefit in such a use.