Earwig Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Howard Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Google app to warn drivers about railroad
> > crossings
> >
> > FacebookTwitter
> >
> > MARK J. TERRILL / ASSOCIATED PRESS
> >
> > Police officers stand near a Metrolink train
> that
> > hit a truck in February in Oxnard. 
> >
> > BY WHIP VILLARREAL
> >
> > June 29, 2015, 2:46 p.m.
> >
> > Google has agreed to add audio and visual
> alerts
> > in its navigation app to warn drivers about
> > railroad crossings.
> >
> > Google is partnering with the Federal Railroad
> > Administration after deaths at railroad
> crossings
> > jumped last year. The number of deaths had been
> > steadily declining over the past decade until
> > spiking 9% in 2014, according to the agency,
> which
> > oversees the nation’s railroads.
> >
> > California accounted for 33 of the 270 deaths
> from
> > train-on-vehicle collisions in 2014.The
> railroad
> > agency is also in talks with other tech
> companies,
> > including Apple, TomTom and MapQuest, to
> integrate
> > warnings into navigation apps.
> >
> > “Google was the first to say that they would go
> > ahead and integrate the data. But we have had
> > great conversations with other companies,” said
> > Sarah Feinberg, acting administrator of the
> > Federal Railroad Administration. “No one has
> told
> > us that they are uninterested.”
> >
> > Google said it doesn’t have a timeline for when
> > the integration of audio and visual alerts for
> > railroad crossings will be completed.
> Meanwhile,
> > the company has agreed to update its maps with
> > 250,000 public and private crossing locations.
>
> Well, cool.... maybe someday Google will find a
> way to put their fones in the hands of low level
> income citizens.
> Until then, guess I will still rely on my
> eyeballs.

Earwig,

You don't need a high end smartphone to run Android. Maybe it will have a small screen, but the apps will work fine.

PDX