Just Because Your Urinal's Talking to You Doesn't Mean You're Drunk

New Mexico has a new partner in cracking down on drunken driving-- talking urinal cakes. The pink enclosures display an anti-drunk-driving message, "You drink, you drive, you lose." And to make sure the point gets across, the urinal cakes speak the message, too. The talking urinal cakes are said to cost $21 each and the batteries supposedly last for three months. The talking urinal cakes have been installed in some bars in Albuquerque this week; they will be distributed to bars in other cities later on.

I've heard that New Mexico has perhaps the biggest drunk driving problem of any state in the U.S., so maybe this is a good idea. Supposedly talking urinals were used in New York City a couple of years back, but I didn't see any. And Country Music Television used talking urinal cakes as a promotional technique a few years ago.

I haven't run into any talking urinals in person. However, I did have the experience of Eddie Murphy speaking to me right as I was pulling down my zipper in the men's room of a NYC bar last week. (There was a talking sign for his new movie "Norbit" above a urinal, and after I walked past it it started it's spiel.)

A few thoughts come to mind regarding the anti-DWI talking urinal cakes:
* The campaign might indeed cut down on drunk driving, but not in the way you'd think If I was three sheets to the wind and heard my urinal talking back to me, I might well have a heart attack right then and there.
* Who'd want a job servicing these things and installing new batteries? It's great they last three months, but eventually someone's gotta go in there and put in a fresh battery.
* Why are these deodorizers called urinal "cakes" anyway? Makes it sound like something you'd find in a demented bakery.

I hope nobody bakes me a urinal cake for my birthday.