Electronic license plate ads in Calif.: A new kind of distracted driving?

Remember those walking billboards -- the guy carrying a sign urging you to "Eat at Joe's?" Put a California spin on that -- which is to say put it on our cars and make it flashing neon -- and you have the latest idea to come out of the Golden State as a means of ridding itself of a $19 billion deficit.

The state Legislature is considering allowing the state to research the use of electronic license plates. When a driver stops for more than four seconds, which on California freeways is a given, their license plate would begin flashing an ad. The measure's sponsor would like us to believe these ads would be endorsements of good causes -- save the whales, go green, keep an eye out for a missing kid.