Michigan to use talking urinal cakes to help curb drunk driving

The talking urinal cakes offer a humorous, yet true warning about the perils of drunk driving. / WWJ/Vickie Thomas

(CBS/AP) DETROIT - Michigan hopes to keep drunks off the road with the help from a special message in men's bathrooms featuring an attention-getting woman's voice.

Talking urinal-deodorizer cakes have been distributed to Michigan Licensed Beverage Association members Wayne County, including Detroit, state officials announced. A recorded message will play reminding men who step up to the urinals to call a cab or a friend, if needed, to get home safely.

"Not only do we want to turn some heads and get people talking, we hope everyone takes the message to heart," Michael L. Prince, director of the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning, said in a statement.

The message starts out with, "Had a few drinks? Maybe a few too many?" according to CBS station WWJ in Detroit. It reminds the men to "do everyone else a favor" and call a cab or ask a sober friend for a ride home.

"And we hope that by using surprise and a little bit of humor in a unique location will make a lasting impression on every male that hears the message," Melody Kindraka, with the Office of Highway Safety Planning, told WWJ.

The message is aimed at Michigan men because they are three times more likely to drive drunk than women, according to Kindraka.

Bay, Ottawa and Delta counties also are getting them. The motion-activated messages are part of a statewide Fourth of July education and enforcement effort. The federally funded drunken driving crackdown runs through Sunday. It also includes stepped up patrols in 26 counties involving a number of agencies.

"At first it may be seen as humorous, but the seriousness of the message will stand out and encourage patrons to find a safe ride home," said Michigan Licensed Beverage Association Executive Director Scott T. Ellis.

Talking urinal cakes have been used in other states for similar efforts. In 2007, New Mexico employed about 500 urinal-deodorizing cakes in men's restrooms and bars across the state. Men in that state accounted for 78 percent of all DUI-related convictions in New Mexico.

[audemus]

Another great novelty item, soon to be showing up in dorm rooms and twenty-something apartments all across Michigan.

[waynenipper]

Hearing a warning to take a cab home will not register in a drunk ... however, if you start out the recording with 'Hey ,,, wanna BJ' that will get 'any' man's attention.

[nohater]

when you're drunk, you don't even listen to your friends or anyone else for that matter. so a urinal cake will make a difference? nah. a drunk is likely to pick it up out of the urinal and toss it in the nearest garbage can or just flush it down the toilet. or take the cake out and stomp on it. the responsibility lies with the drinker and the one serving the booze like at a bar. the few times i've been out drinking, the females have put me under the table with their drinking.

[omnibus66]

Another example of totally useless technology. Why not a cap that tells you that it's raining or sunglasses that tell you the sun is shining? Makes about as much sense.

[varigdc10]

First of all if I'm drunk I really don't care what a urinal says to me,but I think its cool.So, why only in Men's urinals, how about women, they also drink like fish and cause deadly accidents all the time. This is discrimination against men.

[zwaggsy]

Course if someone is completely unaware of this new policy & has had a few too many, it could simply freak them out causing them to shoot out of the toilets without repacking the family jewels.

Expect youtube will have some footage regarding this in the near future (heck some bar staff might even have a webcam in the toilets to see who gives the funniest reaction).

[woodyarobinson]

Personally, I am quite proud that I can roll a joint while signalling, downshifting, and turning a school bus without losing the ash off the end of my Marlboro red, or spilling a drop of my Molson Golden. I'd rather ride with a drunk, stoned, tripping, asleep driver, than someone talking on a cell phone.

[foo8259]

I wish it would also say "please hang up the cell phone."

[realtimecoffee]

If you are drunk enought to take advice from a urinal cake you're drunk enough to forget it by the time you get to your car.

[gnimelf1968]

A better idea would be one that could actually tell your alcohol level and tell you you're over the limit.