Bumper stickers, road rage & digital messaging

We first reported on au-my’s Drivemocion in July 2007, reflecting that displays that can be changed to reflect a given mood or express individuality or emotion had made their way into our jewelery, our clothes and our cars (Toyota's patented personal expression system for cars), and that DriveMocion was a variation on the latter using emoticons to convey a driver’s emotions to other road users.

It’s business model was a bit daggy (two emotions $12.99, three emotions $16.99 five emotions $19.99), and it could so easily have been done with a small microprocessor so users could develop their own messages if they really wanted to say something.

Scrolling electronic messaging launched onto the American market at roughly the same time as both stand-alone units and a display integrated into a number plate surround, both from Roadmaster.

The Roadmaster 12 volt and hardwired scrolling system could equally be used in a shop window as the parcel shelf of a car, and comes with 98 pre-programmed phrases, including "Help me", "Slow down", "Turning left", "Your lights aren’t working", "Baby on Board", and it also lets you write five interchangeable messages of up to 120 characters each of your own. Messages can be combined or repeated and the speed and brightness of the LED can be adjusted with the included wireless remote. The scrolling systems are easy to install and include 12 Volt hardwiring.

We can see countless uses for the scrolling messaging system from salespeople passing out their contact details, selling the car you are driving, hawking products for a sales network … the technology enables almost anyone to leverage their car to advertise something or promotoe a cause, or support their football team, or … do their own thing as a free individual expressing themselves.

Now Drivemocion has released a new advanced system, complete with the highly provocative digital middle finger pictured. Firstly, it is our public duty to warn against using such a sign unless you know the local culture well. This is a gesture that will seriously insult someone in some areas of the world, so it might pay to check out the local customs if you’re planning on using it in the Gulf States, frinstance.

Just the same the digital middle digit was really only slightly more insulting than the company’s original five-emotion version which offers the option of calling someone an “idiot.”

This is a technology that could easily fuel unhealthy discourse on the roads, and we can see some severe injury occurring if this product is used with abandon. Giving the finger to anyone is a foolhardy pastime, whether it’s delivered digitally or not. Just under one in 100 people has spent time in jail in the United States – these people are not strangers to violence, so flashing a sign like that at a fellow road-user is in our mind like playing Russian Roulette – keep playing and eventually you’ll challenge someone’s personal space just a little too much. Of course, anger isn’t the only emotion you can display – there’s also flirting, happy/thankful, sad/sorry and cheeky – but you can bet that flashing the anger sign is gonna add fuel to the fire in at least 50% of cases.

...continued