qStart speaks up to keep you on the right (left) side of the road
By Paul Miller 
posted Apr 24th 2007 5:08PM
posted Apr 24th 2007 5:08PM
Those Thanko crazies finally have a worthy opponent in the much-coveted "oh man, that is totally useless but I want one" category. Go Concepts might not be as USB friendly or warmth oriented, but we're pretty sure the cigarette lighter-based qStart, which voices a warning every time you start your car to drive on the correct side of the road, along with other friendly "keep alert!" reminders along the way, ranks up there with Thanko's finest. Designed for international travelers, or for those UK residents who've subconsciously wised up to the fact that driving on the left is completely ghetto, the qStart features a small selector to set which side of the road you're supposed to be driving on, and warns you accordingly. Of course, if you set it wrong you're completely screwed, but at least you'll know you've blown £9.99 ($20 US) on Doing the Right Thing.[Via Crave]
If you need one of these, please don't drive.
Sincerely,
The World
I concur....upon purchase your driving licence should be immediately revoked :P
"which voices a warning every time you start your car to drive on the correct side of the road,"
Nice proofreading!
Whats wrong with that sentence?Everytime that you start your car,it says something like "please remember to keep to the correct side of the road".
Nice proof-reading.:)
It's a dangling modifier. It is unclear which article "to drive on the correct side of the road" refers to. It could refer to the subject "you", in the sense of "you are going to go start your car to drive on the correct side of the road, or it could refer to the warning the device gives, as in, "when you start your car, it voices a warning to drive on the correct side of the road." Obviously the latter is what was intended, but the grammar still sucks.
My favorite dangling modifier is from the childhood song B-I-N-G-O. "There was a farmer who had a dog, and Bingo was his name-o." Is the farmer named Bingo, or is the dog? You can't tell from the structure of the sentence.
Yeah that makes sense.A comma could fix it.
The dog is named Bingo.
Or he means the "correct side of the road" as the right side as a joke. Kinda like how people say "your wheel is on the wrong side" on right hand drive cars.
I believe stepping into the car from the right side and finding a steering wheel is enough reminder.
Now if u could add custom alerts, this thing be cool. Like pick up kids, groceries, wifes anniversary, mother in laws funeral....u know important stuff....then it b O-Kay.
It takes more coordination to steer than it does to change gears, hence it would be desirable to always keep your better hand on the wheel and for the vast majority of people this is their right hand. If you drive on the right of the road then you’re put in the unnatural and uncomfortable situation of having to steer with only your left hand while changing gears, while driving on the left leads to the much more desirable state of always keeping your right hand on the wheel. Thus the left is the correct side of the road to drive on.
Furthermore the indicators should always be on the right of the steering wheel, as they are on Japanese cars, so there is no conflict between indicating and changing gears. Unfortunately most European and American brands of cars put the indicator on the left, which means you can’t indicate while changing gears.
This is all irrelevant for American cars which are all automatics and only seem to be designed for driving in straight lines anyway :)
Er chap, shouldn't it be mirror, signal and then manoeuvre??
You shouldn't need to touch the indicators when changing gear.
There are lots of cases where that’s impossible, for example if you’re entering a roundabout from a standstill and taking the second exit. You’ll start the car moving in first and have to change into second while on the roundabout but will also have to signal to exit the roundabout.
Another situation is on some tree lined winding country lanes where you can’t see far ahead. Turns can sometimes initially start off shallow but out of view it turns very tight and you have to change gear while on the turn. Yes, ideally you’d be in the right gear before the turn but it’s often not possible.
"There are lots of cases where that’s impossible, for example if you’re entering a roundabout" -- then you should move. Roundabouts (aka traffic circles in Washington, DC, or rotaries in the Boston area) are an abomination; they make it much harder to drive safely. I can understand why they made sense in the days of horsedrawn carriages, but, in the 21st century, they should all be torn down and replaced with ordinary intersections.
Back on topic: I'd love to see one of these used for a prank. Put it in someone's car (ideally in the rear outlet, if there is one) and switch it to the wrong side for the country you're in.
Come to that, if I found myself riding in a car with one of these, the temptation to flip the switch would be pretty strong. :-)