I’m a bit of an eternal optimist, so I always try to look for the “good idea” in the pitches we receive. Even if I can’t figure out how I might use something, I can usually put myself in the shoes of someone who would. Then there’s the pitch we received for the delightful Flik Me, an LED hand that can be set to either wave at other drivers … or flip them the bird as you drive by.
I’ll give the company this: when you put “Flik Me Judie!” in the subject line, it gets everyone’s attention; so, that’s a good thing. Also, I guess if you used this solely to wave nicely at other drivers after they moved over to let you pass, for instance, that would be good as well.
But the company isn’t pitching this just hoping that you’ll wave cheerfully at neighboring cars; they’ve literally designed a little LED hand that can be made to flip the bird at the driver behind you via remote control, and it’s hard to see how that would go over well with others on the road, especially if they’re already having a stressful day.
I fully recognize that I live in NJ, where a middle finger is often accepted as equivalent to a handshake. So I did a little research on road rage statistics and found a lot of useful factoids, thanks to Bankrate.
Here’s what I’ve learned if you’re actually considering buying a Flik Me for flipping off your fellow motorists:
- I do not recommend you Flik-off anyone in Florida, Texas, Tennessee, California, or Pennsylvania; those states were the top five for road rage incidents involving firearms, and no one wants to bring an LED sign to a gunfight.
- Road rage is more likely to occur towards the end of the week, so if you’re going to go around Flik-ing people, it would be best to do it before Wednesday or Thursday.
- In case you weren’t already steered away from Flik-ing in Texas, you can go to jail for up to 30 days for road rage incidents there, and it’s going to be hard to argue you weren’t trying to incite an incident by lighting up a giant middle finger.
- If you cause an accident or an incident because of your incessant Flik-ing, your car insurance likely won’t cover it. And that could lead to a chain of events where you’re late for work, have no car insurance, and you have to explain to your boss that it’s all because you couldn’t resist the siren call of an LED middle finger.
- When a pissing Calvin and Hobbes sticker is classier, you need to reexamine your life choices.
Look, if you’re going to buy a Flik Me, you’re probably not interested in Gear Diary’s opinion, but everything about this feels like a bad idea.
At best, using an LED light to flip off other drivers is in poor taste and likely to distract or annoy drivers around you, not to mention that it’s going to distract you as you fumble for the remote to light up the sign. At worst, shooting an LED middle finger like this could lead to a violent altercation or further escalation between frustrated drivers.
On top of that, the Flik Me is a whopping $49, which seems expensive for a stick-on car novelty. But if it’s really intriguing you, head over to Amazon, but maybe you should also check your emergency fund. You know, just in case insurance won’t cover it when an angry driver runs you off the road because you Flik-ed them off.
We take driving for granted, but it can easily be dangerous even without being obnoxious to the other drivers; so think before you hit the button and Flik anyone off!