Before I cough up the IQ-tip, I thought I’d pass this along first: According to an item over at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Drivers who cause a wreck while yakking on a cellphone will face a fine of up to $500 under a law that took effect Tuesday in DeKalb County.
The law, likely the first of its kind in Georgia, sanctions drivers whose “improper” usage of a mobile phone was a “contributing factor” in a collision causing death, injury or damage.
I have two things to say about that: First, it’s about time! Second, someone should add two more zeros and make it $50,000. Third (just thought of a third, sorry), the same person who had the foresight to add the extra zeros should add an “r” to “county” because the whole country needs such a law.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen people driving poorly while on their phones or checking email on their PDAs. Just last weekend I saw a four-car pile up that started with a man on his phone, in the next lane over from me! Scary stuff folks.
Okay, now that that’s off my keyboard, after the jump you’ll find today’s nifty IQ-tip, thanks to the good people over at Techcrunch.com:
Directory assistance calls are expensive – $1 and higher – and yet 6 billion of them are made every year in the U.S. 1-800-free-411 is a new and brilliant service from Jingle Networks that provides this service to consumers for free.
To discover the method behind the madness (and let’s face it, free directory assistance calls? total madness) check out the article here.
Comments (4)
Comment
- subscribe /
- give a gift /
- terms of service /
- about /
- contact us /
- write for us /
- ad info /
- subscriber services /
- press /
- privacy policy /
- rss /
© 2012 Mental Floss Inc. All Rights Reserved. Mental Floss is a registered trademark owned by Felix Dennis. mentalfloss.com is a trademark owned by Felix Dennis.
Disclaimer: All submissions made to mental_floss become the property of Mental Floss Inc and may be used without further permission by the submitter and without compensation to the submitter. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not submit anything to mental_floss.
I really wish someone would pass a nationwide law regarding cellphone use and causing accidents.
posted by paperback writer on 8-23-2006 at 2:20 pm
I’m a motorcyclist, and the most frightening thing I’ve ever seen was a driver of a camper watching a portable TV on his dashboard…
posted by Thursday on 8-24-2006 at 2:55 pm
I will never use that free 411 service again!
First, they asked if I was calling from a cell phone, and I answered honestly that I was. Then they informed me that I’d just signed up to get text messages from them! I don’t have text messages in my cell phone plan, so I get charged 15 cents a pop… not good.
Next they asked me to say the name of the business I was looking for, which it didn’t recognize, so it gave me the option of saying the type of business (it was a bar), and proceeded to start listing off every single bar in Omaha… so I hung up.
Then I got my first text message from them (15 cents). It said I could text back to unsubscribe, so I did (15 cents). Then it sent me a message to say that I had successfully unsubscribed (15 cents). Then it sent me another message – presumably because the message had been set in motion before I unsubscribed (15 cents).
So much for a free call!
posted by Molly on 9-27-2007 at 9:09 am
As further evidence that Google is taking over the world, they now have a really cool, free, voice recognition 411 service. Just dial 1-800-GOOG-411 (800-466-4411). You can even have them text results to your phone instead of directly connecting you, if you prefer.
posted by Greg B on 9-28-2007 at 9:51 am