California Drivin'? Don't Text, Tommy!

In what should be a real, "Duh!" situation, California has joined five other US states that prohibit drivers from driving and texting at the same time. Electronic billboards on the Interstate 5 corridor remind drivers to keep their texting for break times.

In a story appearing in the San Franciso Chronicle, "Texting while driving is so obviously unsafe that it's hard to imagine that anyone would attempt it," said Sen. Joe Simitian, the Palo Alto Democrat who was the author of the cell phone and text-messaging bills. "But everyday observation as well as statistical information from around the state and nation suggest otherwise."

Statistical information? Two different surveys revealed some scary ones. An insurance company poll revealed that some 19% respondents confessed to texting while driving; another poll showed over three-fourths of their respondents had sometime texted while driving. How can you text and drive? Use your knees to maintain the steering wheel, and hope nothing happens while your face is pointed at the display.

The results are carnage on a grand scale. Five teenage girls were killed in 2007 when the driver of their car smashed into a truck while texting. And need we mention the California metro train accident that took 25 lives whilst the train's engineer was keying text messages?

The California law's teeth aren't large: Senator Simitian figures first-time offenders will be out around $100. Other states where you can get a ticket for texting include Washington, Alaska, Louisiana, Minnesota and New Jersey.

photo: tommy and georgie on flickr.com

New California law limits GPS placement on windshield

Watch where you mount your GSP unit in California. It's now illegal to drive in the state with a GPS on most places on the windshield. Realistically, to stay within the law, users have to somehow affix the devices to the dash or use a bean-bag type holder. According to a state law that went into effect Jan. 1, a GPS device can be mounted on the windshield, but only in two places:

Within a "seven-inch square in the lower corner of the windshield" on the passenger side or within a "five-inch square in the lower corner" on the driver's side. The first position works if a passenger is the navigator. The second position reportedly works well for the driver.

The law reads: “No person shall drive any motor vehicle with any object or material placed, displayed, installed, affixed, or applied in or upon the vehicle which obstructs or reduces the driver's clear view through the windshield or side windows.” So we also assumed you should remove that fuzzy pair of oversized dice you have hanging from your rear view mirror.

If you happen to get pulled over by a copy and cited for having your GSP in the wrong place (not likely) you will be given a ticket that says you need to change the GPS to a legal position. Once done, you can pay $10 and have the ticket removed from your record.

Using iPass - Pretty Much Wherever You Might Be

Last week we pulled our camper to Columbia, SC. The drive itself was uneventful, with the weather crisping up as Autumn began to slide down the East Coast. We parked at the Mount Pleasant KOA, in the same spot we used last year, and met my parents who were making their annual pilgrimage from Ohio to Central Florida in their 42' Travel Supreme. And we also got to visit with our Niece, who lives in Charleston, so it's a great spot for a reunion.

Like most/all KOAs, Mount Pleasant offers free wifi service. Last year the service was marginal, but usable. This year, it had more problems than last, and while my wife's laptop could connect about 1/2 the time, I couldn't connect at all. That's when I fired up my own wifi router/wireless broadband, and my new iPass card. I let my wife connect to our router, and decided to try out the iPass on my laptop. Here's what I found...

iPass is a mix and match combination of service and hardware. The intent of iPass is to make it possible to get an internet connection wherever you might be, via either a wifi or wireless broadband connection. The heart of the service is the software that you install on your laptop that manages the subscription(s) you've signed up for.

I launched the iPassConnect software, and it immediately scanned my available connectivity options. It found the two wifi networks in the area: my personal wifi router, and the KOA's wifi service. It also identified the iPass PCMCIA card connected to the laptop. Each of the two wifi networks displayed connectivity strength, with (as expected) the campground network showing only 1 bar, while my own router showed 4 bars.

I selected the mobile data connection rather than either of the wifi networks, and the system dutifully initialized the card, and made the connection. I was able to get online in just a few seconds, and the internet speed test showed a download speed of just over 1 mb/sec, which was about twice what my wife was able to achieve when connected to the campground wifi. It was, however, equivalent to the speed delivered through our own router, which was what I expected, since both my router's broadband connection, and the iPass service were using Sprint.

The point of this experience is that I was able to pick and choose the connection I wanted based on what was available at the time and place. iPass also supports wired Ethernet, tethered cell phone connections, and even dialup, when absolutely necessary. The service is available internationally, which makes it great for business travelers.

The Windows (only) laptop plan I'm using includes both wifi and 3G wireless for $59.95/month. The company is offering a free 3G card with signup (at least at the time of this writing).

One added convenience, is the Handheld Hotspot Finder, which is a web site that lets you find the closest wifi hotspot. I was able to use it on my Windows 6 based Blackjack II, but you should be able to use any cell phone that has a browser and internet plan. In my area, it located 2 McDonald's, and displayed a map of the locations. The wifi subscription includes T-Mobile Hotspots, Borders, Starbucks, Hilton Hotels, FedEx Kinkos, and others. The iPass web site claims "100,000 premium locations around the world."

The iPass is now part of my permanent collection for travel I'm not certain I'll give up my router and USB connection, because it lets me connect my wife's computer, my Chumby, and my Archos MP3 device via wifi. But when I'm just carrying my laptop, the iPass is my first choice.