The Simplest Solutions...

I've always felt there's beauty in simplicity. I don't know how many times in the past I've been trying to solve a difficult problem, working maybe for days on a solution, trying every imaginable path to the best answer. What I've found is that the most satisfying, and usually the best, solution, turns out to be the simplest.

Those answers are usually found when you pick your head up out of the details, ask yourself again what you're trying to solve, and then asking what's the simplest thing I can do.

Well, what follows is, to me, another example...

I know the the Department of Transportation has been working on a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication system to make our highways safer. There are a lot of people out there that are concerned with the privacy issues around the sharing of information. However, I believe that certain measures that we can take to make our roadways safer, especially for motorcyclists, is worth it.

I haven't paid too much attention to V2V because, let's face it,, it's being developed by the DOT. My feeling there is they'll spend a lot of time engineering and over-engineering the project. I think part of it are starting to appear in the market place, but it'll take a while longer before we see it in the wild in any meaningful way.

The other day I stumbled on an app that I think gets to the heart of V2V. Not only that, it seems so simple and utilizes something we all pretty much already have - our smartphones!!

I'm talking about the Bike Shield App. It has the potential to make our roadways safer right now. And it's as simple as firing up the app anytime you're getting ready to drive or ride. From their website:

Simple and revolutionary, TheBikeShieldApp is a First Layer Crash Avoidance Technology mobile app which establishes communication between cars, motorcycles and bicycles that are sharing the road. When using this app, car drivers get an acoustic signal that warns them about approaching motorcycles and bicycles. These signals raise drivers’ awareness and reduce distracted maneuvers that may result in a fatal crash with motorcycles and bicycles.

I think the biggest hurdle is going to get people aware of the app and to start using the app. The app comes out in a couple days. In the meantime, I suggest you head over to their site and learn more about it. And when the app comes out, install it and start using it.