SafeAuto has added a new look to the home page of SafeAuto.com. The vibrant new redesign was released earlier today. A few of the new features include a dynamic rotating content system and a new Facebook fan box in order to add Justin Case or SafeAuto as fans directly from the site. Some of the other new options were an updated color scheme and more additional links in order to improve the user experience. Updates to the rest of the site will be rolling out in the next couple of weeks. Let us know what you like about the new site. Go out and take a look today at the fresh new update to www.SafeAuto.com!

As Spring thankfully approaches, it’s not uncommon to see long lines at the local car wash as soon as the sun has been shining for over five consecutive minutes.  Besides dealing with those long lines, the price for washing your car seems to be rising with the price of gas.  How to avoid these costs and still end up with a gleaming automobile?  Park it next to this train station….especially during a flood. 

It seems that the people in this video are ok with the five second bath they receive as well, as surprisingly few of them run for cover as the tidal wave created by the slow moving train approaches.  Hopefully, nobody left their sun roof open, or at least had good car insurance to cover any damage that may have been done by the railroad-inspired flash flood.

[Source: YouTube]

Whether you are a passionate gamer, or a noob, we have all been exposed to some kind of video game in the past decade. Yahoo recently put together a list of the top best video/computer games of all time.

So you’re asking, who had the best video game of the decade? Believe it or not, but Grand Theft Auto III developed by Rockstar Games has won the award! Yahoo describes its success, “The dirty, unforgiving nature of Liberty City forever altered the gaming landscape, introducing gamers to the concept of 'open-world' design while permanently raising the bar for mature storytelling.” Check out the entire list, http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/top-10-games-of-the-decade/.

Maybe SafeAuto will even create a game of their own in the future. I wonder how Justin Case would face up in the gaming world? Only time will tell. Submit your comments below if you have any suggestions!

[Source: Yahoo]

Just in time for the Oscars comes this British public safety ad.  While at first it may seem a little overdramatic, the point is quickly driven home by some nifty camera work.  Written and directed by Daniel Cox (yes that Daniel Cox), the message focuses on family, safety, and well, the safety your family can provide when acting as a human seatbelt.

[Source: YouTube]

Justin Case recently attended Galveston, Texas’ Krewe Babalu Parade. He joined Houston’s 39 News channel to ride in the Mardi Gras parade in Galveston Friday night along with Brian from Family Guy.

The well-known event included many different floats and local marching bands. Justin snapped photos with several fans and waved hello to crowds in the thousands. Great food, entertainment, live bands and of course, bead throwing were all part of this exciting night’s festivities.

Although this year reported to have smaller crowds due to the colder temperatures, fans still showed up in the thousands to celebrate the second weekend of Mardi Gras on the island. The SafeAuto and 39 News crews bundled up to join in all of the excitement the parade had to offer as it made its way through the historic streets of downtown Galveston.

Justin also found time to sit down with Houston’s renowned Mia Gradney for an interview. They discussed the parade and what it was like play “Justin Case.”

SafeAuto’s participation in the event proved to be very successful. SafeAuto is very excited to partake in this event in the upcoming years. Visit Justin’s Facebook page for a complete gallery of photos from the event, http://www.facebook.com/SafeAutoJustinCase.

When bad weather hits the highways, a life-size domino effect plays out, and unfortunately everybody loses.  Check out these pics from KansasCity.com of the highway you would most like to avoid this morning.  A pileup this massive has only been rivaled by the accidents on the restarts of yesterdays Daytona 500.  No word on whether a pothole was to blame.   Hopefully, the drivers had good insurance, as this is a mess that will require a lot of information exchanges.

[Source: KansasCity.com]

A new application is now available for several mobile devices in order to help drivers avoid distractions while driving. DriveSafe.ly is a free mobile app that is reading millions of text messages (SMS) aloud per week to drivers around the world.

So you ask, what exactly is DriveSafe.ly? DriveSafe.ly is a mobile application that reads text (SMS) messages and e-mails aloud in real time and automatically responds without drivers touching the mobile phone. DriveSafe.ly is the solution to texting while driving.

In the world of smart phones, more and more people are utilizing the internet from their phones. Traffic to SAFEAUTO.COM from a mobile device has increased dramatically over the last few months. This new device will hopefully help people keep their eyes on the road by reading SMS and e-mail messages aloud.

To see if the application is available for your phone and to download the free service, visit http://www.drivesafe.ly/

We’ve all been there before.  Sitting in gridlocked traffic on the freeway, only to look over to the HOV lane to see the smiles on the drivers faces, as they cruise by at 75 miles per hour, all because they were able to carpool to work with Sue from accounting.  This story should bring a small smile to your face as a New Yorker was stopped for driving in the HOV lane with a mannequin instead of the required real-life breathing human. 

According the the deputy who issued the ticket, the tip-off was the sunglasses that the wigged torso was wearing on an otherwise cloudy day.  The driver could have made the excuse that passenger just had their pupils dilated, hence the need for the glasses, but they seemed to just take the $135 ticket and two points on their license. 

At least Larry David had the good sense to hire a living person when he needed to use the carpool lane, although that didn’t end too well for him either. 

Anyway, chalk this one up as a lesson learned, as I’m currently making a Lenscrafters appointment for my mannequin to get her some trendy hipster glasses that would fool any cop.

[Source: MSNBC]

SafeAuto Insurance is very proud to announce Atlanta-based Portia Allen, also known as Lady Rerun, as the winner of the Do The Jingle Contest for 2010. Coming very close behind in second place was the Pinnell Dance Centre, from Columbus, Ohio. The winning submission, with a total of 58,415 votes, has won an advertising contract with SafeAuto Insurance Company.

A team from SafeAuto conducted a tour searching for creative talent and the chance to star in the next SafeAuto commercial campaign this past fall. The tour revealed a lot of excitement with many competitive submissions in Atlanta, Dallas, Columbus and Chicago. These early submissions created a buzz of enthusiasm starting the contest off with over 40,000 unique visitors to www.DoTheJingle.com within the first week after the contest started and ending with over a quarter million total votes cast.

“After last year’s success with the contest,” commented Elie Deshe, Vice President of Emerging Media, “We were ready to hit the ground running. Both Lady Rerun and the Pinnell dancers demonstrated that they had passionate and dedicated fan bases, willing to vote every hour to ensure their favorite entry was the winner.”

Participants continued to submit remarkable entries throughout the three months the contest ran with several well-known groups remaining in the top twenty range virtually the entire contest’s length. Some of the top qualifying competitors included contestants from Columbus, Atlanta, Chicago, New York and Texas.

• Columbus: The Pinnell Dance Centre
• Atlanta: The Jango Monkey Band and the Stokeswood Band
• Chicago: A local church band, the Trudel Sisters group, a Zion Church drumline
• New York : The Board of Directors Band
• Dallas: A Celtic Rock band called the Killdares and the Blues Brothers enthusiast band, Briefcase Blues

A couple hundred submissions were submitted to the site from every music genre imaginable including several acting parodies.

Contest Specifics
Participants taking part in the contest were encouraged to re-create the best version of SafeAuto’s famous 1-800-SAFEAUTO Jingle, video tape their performance, and then upload the video submissions to be featured on DoTheJingle.com. The winner was then based on a voting system from fans voting for their favorite jingle on the hour. The winner at the end was determined by the submission with the most votes. The top five contestants will receive cash prizes and the top 10 contestants will receive SafeAuto roadside assistance bags.

The new www.DoTheJingle.com website launched this year on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 26, 2009,  marking this as the second consecutive year for the contest. Judging for the contest ran from Thanksgiving Day until the end of January 2010. Portia Allen will be awarded $5,000 and an advertising contract in order to star in a SafeAuto commercial. “Of all the incredible talent, the voters chose me!” Portia Allen commented on her win, “With my deepest sincerity, thank you so much to all of you who voted for me and have continually supported me. I am truly blessed!”

Last year’s contest brought many entries with the Potter’s House Choir from Columbus, Ohio, coming out on top with 30,753 votes. They won an advertising contract with SafeAuto Insurance and recorded their winning commercial in late August 2009. The commercial featured the Potter’s House Choir and SafeAuto’s very own Rocket Scientist spokesperson.

For those readers out there looking to begin a career in dump truck driving, please learn a lesson from this Turkish man who thought it was OK to drive with the dumper in the “up” position.  Amazingly, nobody was killed in this accident (nobody specifically referring to the pedestrian that is seen on the collapsing bridge), and only one person was injured (presumably, said pedestrian). 

We’ve seen cases of bridges that are not truck-friendly, but this is more a matter of a truck causing more destruction than most of the Transformers cast.  If only Michael Bay were there to have caught this on film, he probably could’ve shaved a few million off what is sure to be the third installment of the Transformers franchise.

[Source: YouTube]