Photo of the day (8.12.2010)

by Meg Nesterov on


We’re in the dog days of summer, with hot temperatures and high levels of humidity making it hard to do more than eat ice cream, seek air conditioning, and think of fall weather. While there’s less than a month left in summer, and pretty soon we’ll be complaining about winter, the sticky August heat can feel downright oppressive.

That’s why this photo by Flickr user t3mujin taken in Lisbon, Portugal looks so inviting. The cool colors, hazy sky and water below provides some virtual heat relief. It’s tempting to jump right off the dock or at least enjoy the breeze alongside the fishermen.

Do you have a refreshing travel photo? Upload it to Gadling’s Flickr group and we might use it for a future Photo of the Day.

Short skirts, low necklines drive drivers to crash

by Tom Johansmeyer on

The end of summer is fast approaching – can you believe it’s August already! – and that means a last-minute road trip is bound to be on your list. Well, if you’re planning to load the car, thrown in some music and put the pedal to the metal, it pays to keep your eyes on the road, especially for those of us who happen to be men. There is danger everywhere, especially above the knee.

A study by an insurance company in the United Kingdom, Sheilas’ Wheels, found that men’s car accident rates are about as high as “women’s summer hemlines,” according to an article on MSNBC. Twenty-nine percent of confessed that short skirts and low-cut tops make traffic, stop signs and other aspects of driving without killing someone less appealing (what would you rather look at?). I’m still wondering what the other 71 percent were looking at.

As usual, the fact that “[m]en are more visually oriented” is proffered as the reason why we are distracted more easily than women, on the road or anywhere else. And, testosterone gets some blame, too.
Said a spokesperson for Sheilas’ Wheels, which specializes in selling auto insurance policies to women:

“Men are significantly more likely than women to claim during the summer months – often as a result of wandering eyes.

“We urge all motorists to keep their eyes on the road – regardless of outside distractions – and keep cool behind the wheel,” Sheilas’ Wheels said.

I suspect this will be particularly tough if you’re road tripping out to the beach. My advice: take a drive out to a buffet. Keep your eyes off the hotties and on the road!

[thanks, @BrokingLiz, photo by nesta eber]

Distracted driving rules drive you to distraction

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Road trips are a staple of summer travel. You load up the car, cram in the kids and put the pedal to the metal. Well, it’s not that simple any more. The rules with which you have to contend vary from state to state, especially when it comes to distracted driving (also “known as get off your cell phone while driving”). Can you go hands free? Should you just shut up and drive? It depends on the state.

We’ve become more reliant on our cell phones, and not just for talking. Travel apps abound, and iPhones, BlackBerry devices and Androids laden with them help us communicate with each other to get local color, find hotels and cheap gas and even get from Point A to Point B without getting lost. All these tools that make travel easier could make driving safely harder, as you desperately need to monitor the Twitter public timeline while blowing down the highway at an absurd rate of speed.

Well, it turns out that keeping track of distracted driving rules from state to state, particularly if you’re on a long road trip, can lead you into distracted driving. Simply put: trying to obey the law can cause you to break it.Distracted driving laws, according to MSNBC, are far from uniform:

So far, 30 states – and some local jurisdictions, including Chicago and Phoenix – now have laws that address using cell phones or sending text messages while driving. Fines range from $20 to $150 for the first offense.

Unfortunately, the laws aren’t uniform. One state may ban handheld phone use in cars while another may allow it. Texting while driving is banned in dozens of states, but will result in a ticket in others only if you get into an accident.

Just keeping track of distracted driving laws can distract the heck out of you. So, you may want to print them out, MSNBC suggests, particularly since these laws aren’t always posted at state borders. A better idea, I think, is to e-mail or text them to yourself … which only works in states where you can use your cell phone while driving. D’oh!

Even better? Bring a copilot.

[photo by Lord Jim via Flickr]

Photo of the Day (5.25.10)

by Stephen Greenwood on
Today’s Photo of the Day comes out of Jasper, Alabama from Flickr user bamassippi. Taken under the stadium lights of a High School football field, I feel that this photo captures a quintessential American summer evening – and with Memorial Day right around the corner, there will hopefully be many of these summer sunsets up ahead.

Jasper is part of Walker County, which once ranked among the world’s leading producers of coal. Settled in 1815, it was named in honor of Sergeant William Jasper, a Red Stick War hero.

Do you have some simple shots that put your hometown in a new light? Share them with us! Submit to our Gadling Flickr Pool and we could feature it as our Photo of the Day!

Photo of the Day (5.18.10)

by Stephen Greenwood on
I love finding pictures of bicycles that have been loaded to their maximum capacity, like today’s Photo of the Day from andreakw.

The photo was snapped on the shores of Cuban resort town, Varadero – one of the largest resort areas in the Caribbean. Also known as Playa Azul, the town welcomes over 500,000 visitors per year with it’s white sand beaches, cays, caves, and water activities.

If you have a photo of a bicycle being used to its full potential, send it our way – submit to the Gadling Flickr Pool and it could be our next Photo of the Day!