Was there ever a better grass roots initiative then Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD)? I think not. It didn’t stop everybody from drinking and driving, but maybe it made them stop one drink earlier than in the old days or at least made them aware of the danger they were creating on the road and instead of driving recklessly, they drove a bit more cautiously? Or am I out of my mind thinking this?

Last week I was driving down one of our typical suburban Atlanta roads around 10:30 a.m. You know the type of road;  gas stations, strip malls, traffic lights, etc. There are two lanes of traffic heading north and there is one car going way too slow in the left lane which of course forces cars behind her to try and get around and causes all sorts of traffic confusion. I eventually got the point where I also had to pass her on the right. I glanced over as I was passing her and there she was, a woman in her thirties in a white minivan talking away on the phone. As I passed her a car in front of her quickly moved into the right lane in front of me because there was a car immediately ahead of him that was making a legal left turn and there was no left turn lane. He moves in front of me and the woman in the minivan now has the stopped car making the left turn in front her. Yes, she smashed right into him. It is a serious rear-ender. A group of us pull over to offer assistance and when I got there someone was already getting her out of her minivan.

Airbags were probably one of the automotive industry’s greatest inventions, they work. The driver was shaken but other than that ok. The guy in the car she hit was a bit rattled, but didn’t seem to be hurt seriously. I looked at the van and noticed two child seats in the back. As the crowd who stopped to help was milling around waiting for the police to arrive I caught the eye of the minivan driver. I don’t know why but I looked at her and in a stern and serious voice told her that she is the reason the laws are changing about cell phone usage. I told her she didn’t use her blinker when she changed lanes. She was driving way too slow in the left lane. And if she wasn’t on the phone this accident would have been avoided. I pointed to the back seat of her minivan with the two empty child seats and told her I bet she talked on the phone with her kids in the backseat. I finally said to her you shouldn’t be driving and walked away. Nobody called me an idiot for scolding a nice woman who just got into a serious accident, but nobody cheered either. As I was walking to my car a guy came up to me, tapped me on the shoulder and said thank you. He was thinking the exact same thing since he also was one of those stuck behind her on the road. I didn’t feel good about what I had said to that woman but did feel better after the guy came over and thanked me.

I mentioned MADD beforehand because I started to think how many people have needlessly died on the roads because people were distracted by cell phone conversations? Where are the statistics on that? So the question of the day is simply, was I wrong? (Send your comments to mailto:rich@hospitalityupgrade.com.)

Enough of my venting. Here is the real reason we are here, Jon Inge’s technology review of the last few weeks. I will see you at the end with this week’s attempt at you-know-what.

- Austria Trend Hotels & Resorts deploying IDeaS V5i at all 30 properties
- IDeaS launches IDeaShare forum for clients to share ideas on enhancements.
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Austria Trend Hotels & Resorts is deploying IDeaS V5i On-Demand Revenue Management Solution for all 30 of its properties.  All modules are being installed, with an emphasis on the best available rate (BAR) and centralized control modules; the latter provides multiproperty roll-up reporting and group evaluations across user-definable property groups for cluster yielding. 

IDeaS has launched IDeaShare, a forum where IDeaS clients can post and discuss public suggestions on how to improve the system’s functionality. 
http://www.austria-trend.at, http://www.ideas.com
**

And now for you-know-what…

There are two statues in a park, one of a nude man and one of a nude woman. They had been facing each other across a pathway for over 100 years. One day an angel comes down from the sky and, with a single gesture, brings the two to life.

The angel tells them, "As a reward for being so patient through 100 blazing summers and dismal winters, you have been given life for 30 minutes to do what you've wished to do the most."

The male statue looks at the female statue, she looks at him, and they run behind the shrubbery. The angel waits patiently as the bushes rustle and giggling ensues.

After 15 minutes, the two return, out of breath and laughing. The angel tells them, "Um, you have 15 minutes left, would you care to do it again?"

"Shall we," he asks her.

"Oh, yes, let's," she eagerly replies. "But let's change positions. This time, I'll hold the pigeon and you poop on its head!"