As of the end of 2004*, there were 1,500,000+ registered vehicles with the Land Transportation Office (LTO). That was 5 years ago! On any work day, it feels like a billion vehicles - making the major roads and highways look like one giant parking lot. Need I say what it looks like during rush-hours?Source: Land Transportation Office (LTO); data summary provided by the Society for the Advancement of Technology Management in the Philippines (SATMP) under the Asian Regional Research Programme in Energy, Environment and Climate (ARRPEEC).
So, if a motorist can find a way, by any means possible, to avoid a clogged spot, it may mean an hour or two earlier to reach the office or to be comfortably inside one's home. Unfortunately, the country doesn't have the new stuff where satellites, cameras, and in-vehicle computers all conspire to warn motorists to take a detour - way ahead of time.
As is the case with motorists stuck in traffic, some use their mobile phones to call or to send a text message to forewarn the spouse (or the boss) of a late arrival time.
While we're waiting for all these high-tech stuff to become available and affordable, wouldn't it be great if we can use a single text message (an AKA BLOG) sent from our mobile phones to forewarn others- friends and family members, who're just about to leave the office or the home?Wouldn't it be great to see the same text message appear on your Facebook status section, the Facebook notification sections of friends, an incoming eMail message via Gmail or Yahoo, or a widget box on a shared website or social media group (Friendster, Multiply, Ning)?
It's a low-tech, but effective solution to an everyday problem. It'll even be more beneficial if more people text-in traffic updates everytime they're on a specific roadway. And if we have more people doing an AKA WATCH of known and diligent "traffic-jam texters", the long queues from secondary and tertiary roadways going to a clogged area can be avoided as people will go to alternative routes.
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