Solution for Distracted Driving?

[83b]

An enterprising motorist in NY decided to protect himself from distracted drivers by installing a cell phone jammer in his car.

Sadly, our hero was busted by agents from the FCC (the FCC has agents?) because a cell company reported daily disruptions to their towers during the morning and evening commutes.

My only concern with this plan, beyond having to pay a $50K fine like our persecuted hero, is that drivers who just dropped a call would be extra distracted trying to redial, retext, or resend that oh-so-important email.

Topic

[dasgeh]

@ShawnoftheDread 84104 wrote:

Opinions like LaHood’s provide strong evidence that politicians’ reputations for idiocy are well deserved.

Or they reflect the sad reality that the majority of cars do not carry passengers.

[KelOnWheels]

@DismalScientist 84091 wrote:

Yeah… You try dealing with my soon-to-be teenage daughter on a road trip if all cell phones are locked in the trunk.:rolleyes:

The solution here seems obvious…

[cvcalhoun]

Yes, but the authorities frown on sticking one’s soon-to-be teenage daughter in the trunk, no matter how much of a pain she may be on road trips!

@KelOnWheels 84107 wrote:

The solution here seems obvious…

[DismalScientist]

@cvcalhoun 84111 wrote:

Yes, but the authorities frown on sticking one’s soon-to-be teenage daughter in the trunk, no matter how much of a pain she may be on road trips!

As if they’d know…:rolleyes:

[lordofthemark]

@ShawnoftheDread 84104 wrote:

Because every emergency situation involves the ability to get out of one’s car and open the trunk. And the dangers of passengers using cellphones is so great federal government intervention is needed.

Opinions like LaHood’s provide strong evidence that politicians’ reputations for idiocy are well deserved.

1. Somehow we managed to drive cars without cell phones, within living memory. Its a question of tradeoffs. Is the likelihood of an emergency where having the phone in the car great enough to justify the danger of distracted driving.

2. Sec Lahood did not call for a federal rule on that, IIRC. He was giving a personal recommendation based on the research. To get people thinking. If you can’t see your way to keeping the phone in the trunk, maybe in the glove box? But with an awareness of the distraction that may result. And to make forcefully clear that being hands free is not the solution some think it is.

[lordofthemark]

@dasgeh 84105 wrote:

Or they reflect the sad reality that the majority of cars do not carry passengers.

I think it was implicit that a passenger can make a call, and that the danger was when the driver gets distracted.

[DismalScientist]

Hmm…
Makes it difficult to use the GPS app.

[ShawnoftheDread]

@lordofthemark 84122 wrote:

I think it was implicit that a passenger can make a call, and that the danger was when the driver gets distracted.

It wasn’t implicit at all. He wanted to make cellphones inoperable inside the cabin of a moving vehicle.

[lordofthemark]

@ShawnoftheDread 84125 wrote:

It wasn’t implicit at all. He wanted to make cellphones inoperable inside the cabin of a moving vehicle.

That certainly wouldn’t prevent someone from keeping one in the glove box for an emergency, I was referring specifically to the advice of keeping it in the trunk. Clearly there would be costs and benefits to banning all use in a moving vehicle. There is IIUC evidence that people with hands free devices still take their eyes off the road to use them. If we can find a means to reduce that that has lower costs, that would certainly be worth exploring.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/13/business/voice-activated-in-car-systems-are-called-risky.html

http://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/t/distracted-driving/qanda

The relative safety of hands-free and hand-held cellphones is unknown. Hands-free phones may eliminate some of the physical and visual distraction of handling phones or dialing, but the cognitive distraction associated with conversation remains. Two studies of crashes using cellphone billing records to verify phone use found about a fourfold increase in crash risk when conversing on either hands-free or hand-held phones. 10, 11 The studies were unable to estimate crash risk from different types of hands-free devices. They also were unable to determine whether there was any benefit associated with hands-free devices while placing the call. Experimental research using driving simulators indicates that phone conversation tasks, whether using hand-held or hands-free devices, affect some measures of driving performance. 17, 18, 19

[lordofthemark]

@DismalScientist 84124 wrote:

Hmm…
Makes it difficult to use the GPS app.

actually I think there are some exploring ways to selectively disable apps, so you could still use GPS.

[UnknownCyclist]

I think we need to ban Aerobars. If they get in the hands of triathletes, the results could be disastrous. :rolleyes:

[cvcalhoun]

One of the things that bugs me is that phone manufacturers don’t provide a way to allow use of things like GPS while disabling the phone. It’s possible to selectively disable GPS or data connections without disabling the phone, but not vice versa. Of course, the cell phone companies like it this way, because they make their money off the phone service.

@lordofthemark 84133 wrote:

actually I think there are some exploring ways to selectively disable apps, so you could still use GPS.

[rcannon100]

@cvcalhoun 84138 wrote:

because they make their money off the phone service.

They make their big money off of data services.

B

[consularrider]

@cvcalhoun 84111 wrote:

Yes, but the authorities frown on sticking one’s soon-to-be teenage daughter in the trunk, no matter how much of a pain she may be on road trips!

She probably wouldn’t complain if the cell phone was in the trunk with her. :p

[dasgeh]

@DismalScientist 84124 wrote:

Hmm…
Makes it difficult to use the GPS app.

1) I’m not convinced looking at GPS -whether a device or an app – is ok. It still takes your eyes off the road.
2) In my personal experience, radios are a distraction, albeit not one that causes immediate danger. I’ve missed my exit because I’ve been listening to NPR, but I haven’t taken my eyes off the road for it for longer than a second.
3) Along those lines, I’m just not as worried about cellphones being used as phones in cars.
4) I am very worried about the functions of a phone that take a driver’s eyes off the road — dialing, texting, reading, typing, GPS, searching for directions, looking at traffic, trying to find a way around traffic.

I have seen research about conversations — either with a live person in the car or via phone — being more distracting than, say, radio, which is more distracting than nothing. But logically, it doesn’t seem like any of those distractions could compare with not looking where you’re driving. I wish we could focus on that.

[Author]

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