Thursday, June 24, 2010

Digital License Plate- The Next Thing In Advertising?

I don't know about you, but sometimes I have a hard time actually concentrating on driving because I'm on stimulus overload. Drive up 95 and you'll see signs everywhere- signs advertising stores, services, hotels, etc. Now throw into the mix possible advertising on license plates, and I could have a serious distracted driving problem.

The California Legislature is considering a bill that would allow research into the use of electronic license plates for vehicles. The device would look like a standard license plate when the vehicle is in motion but would switch to digital ads or other messages when it is stopped for more than four seconds, whether in traffic or at a red light. Here's the story.

What do you think? Is this a cool idea or kind of crazy?

3 comments:

Charles said...

I think it is a cool idea, but crazy also, we have to much advertising now to distract drivers. The Amber alerts is interesting though.

SRTC Staff said...

I thought the Amber Alert aspect was interesting too. I can just see myself inching forward to read the license plate in front of me though and rear-ending the car! I don't need something else to encourage me to get closer to the next car up.

Not said...

I have a Better Idea. Instead of advertising, the plates could have sensors, so that they could provide useful messages to other drivers, like "Slow down!" or "Back off!"
- Ventura


About SRTC

SRTC is the federally designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for Spokane County. Urbanized areas with populations exceeding 50,000 people are required to have an MPO. SRTC was formed to address the county's transportation planning needs. It provides coordination in planning between the public, cities, small towns, the county, the state, transit providers, and tribes.

SRTC offers services including transportation monitoring, transportation modeling, census information analysis, travel demand forecasting, historical traffic count analysis, geographic information systems, and trip generation rates.