US Government Considering Technology To Block Cell Phones In Moving Vehicles

[looker]

They are idiots if they think it will work. I am going to guess 1 days after technology is released there will be video on youtube explaining in details how to bypass this block. Also how does it determine if phone is in driver or passenger hands?

 

[JJR512]

I would argue that it's much safer to operate a radio. I don't have to change the channel on the dispatch radio similar to dialing. I don't have to dig around for it as it stays clipped in the same location the entire shift. The conversation is different. If I'm talking on the phone there's a whole lot of pleasantries and normal grammatical rules that are simply understood when using a radio. To compare conversations, a simple, "Unit 75 transporting code 2" on a radio becomes something along the lines of, "Hi. Can I talk to North Dispatch? Thanks. Hi, I just to let you know that we're transporting. Ok, call you back when we get there."

Similarly, a radio conversation is largely scripted. If I say, "Unit 75, transporting," I expect to hear, "Copy unit 75" as the response, or as was often the case, a simple click from dispatch activating then releasing the microphone. So unless I get an inappropriate response, very little of my attention is diverted.

Howard County radios have multiple channels. We're dispatched on Alpha 1, respond on Alpha 2, and there are multiple other channels used for specific other purposes. I can dial a phone without looking at it and without thinking much about it because the 3-across, 4-down telephone button arrangement is something that most of us have tremendous familiarity with. I'm much less familiar with the radio and still have to think which way do I turn the dial.

However that is a case that does not involve the driver. Given the proposal, there will need to be special phones that have the speed cutoff chip disabled. Of course non-official use of said phone would have to be illegal and access to phones where the speed cutoff is legally disabled would have to be restricted.

So one more expensive gadget to buy, keep track of, charge, and maintain.

Overall, I think cell phone control is going to be just like gun control. It will be harder for honest people to do what they should be able to do, while dishonest people will keep on doing whatever the heck they want, laws and easily-defeated technical restrictions be damned.

 

[46Young]

In an effort to control our lives, the government is going to take away yet another decision that people should make for themselves.

There's this, there's the ban on incandescent light bulbs, the TSA fondling, they would love to take our guns, and much more to come, I'm sure. When is it going to stop?

 

[Bullets]

Or medical control is at one of the 5 hospitals in my county, and we only use cellphones to call for additional meds and such, we have the HEAR radio in every truck, but they're there only as a backup, and most of the hospitals don't have a functional receiver any more, so this would cut us phd from our medical control

 

[Afflixion]

The statistics in that report are very misleading...
5,870 people died due to "distracted driving" out of the 37,261 that died over all in 2008. Not to mention the number of driving related fatalities have gone down 14.9% from 1979 until 2009.

Also another fun fact... The four most leading causes of MVC's is in this order
Equipment Failure
Roadway Design
Poor Roadway Maintenance
and last but not least.... Poor Driving Habits

All of this was pulled off of the NHTSA website.

 

[Aidey]

I find that interesting because I can say that by far drunk driving, speed, distractions (texting, kids,food whatever), and driving too fast for road conditions are the most common causes of the MVCs I've been on.

 

[Afflixion]

That's what I would figure, but this is taking into account all MVC's reported not just ones with injuries.

 

[Pittma]

Time for the government to stop trying to save us all...

 

[firecoins]

ANy side that says "we are right and anyone who disagree should not talk" is the side I oppose off the bat.

 

[JJR512]

ANy side that says "we are right and anyone who disagree should not talk" is the side I oppose off the bat.

You are absolutely right, and anyone who disagrees with us shouldn't talk!

 

[clibb]

It's an easy fix. Just make Bluetooth mandatory when using your cellphones for calls. No texting allowed what-so-ever.

 

[JPINFV]

It's an easy fix. Just make Bluetooth mandatory when using your cellphones for calls. No texting allowed what-so-ever.

...except that Bluetooth doesn't make a difference. The problem is the conversation, not the location of the hands.

 

[JJR512]

It's an easy fix. Just make Bluetooth mandatory when using your cellphones for calls. No texting allowed what-so-ever.

Bluetooth only makes the phone hands-free. The point of this thread is that the government wants to prevent drivers from talking on the phone at all, period. No hands-free, no nothing.

 

[JPINFV]

Bluetooth only makes the phone hands-free. The point of this thread is that the government wants to prevent drivers from talking on the phone at all, period. No hands-free, no nothing.

Which is, ultimately, what they should do if the argument is safety. I thought the bigger problem is that the technology used was such that it would prevent passenger use in addition to driver use.

 

[clibb]

...except that Bluetooth doesn't make a difference. The problem is the conversation, not the location of the hands.

A human being can talk and drive at the same time. So you're saying that if you're having a conversation with the passenger or listening to the radio you're distracted?
Come on!

 

[JJR512]

Which is, ultimately, what they should do if the argument is safety. I thought the bigger problem is that the technology used was such that it would prevent passenger use in addition to driver use.

I don't think the government should do anything to prevent drivers from talking on cell phones, period. I think the government should focus on catching and punishing drivers who aren't driving safely, period. If you are driving and seen by a police officer to be driving unsafely, then you should be pulled over and get a ticket at a minimum. Regardless of if the cause of your unsafe driving is talking on a phone, eating drive-thru food, doing your makeup, shaving with an electric razor, reading the paper, you're too tired, or whatever.

Talking on a phone, whether you're holding it in your hand or not, doesn't take any more mental energy or attention than talking on a radio or talking to the person in the passenger seat. The government shouldn't ban drivers from talking on cell phones unless they're going to ban drivers from talking at all, period, including on radios or to other people in the vehicle. And come to think of it, half of talking on a cell phone is actually listening to the other person, so I guess the government should ban drivers from listening to the AM/FM radios (or CD player, iPod, whatever) in the car, too, right?

 

[looker]

It's an easy fix. Just make Bluetooth mandatory when using your cellphones for calls. No texting allowed what-so-ever.

Do you really think that will make a difference. It's already law and i text and drive all the time. I talk and drive often. Yes I ignore the law and so do many other people.

 

[JPINFV]

A human being can talk and drive at the same time. So you're saying that if you're having a conversation with the passenger or listening to the radio you're distracted?
Come on!

The radio doesn't require interaction past changing the channel and the passenger is watching traffic conditions, so they know when they need to shut up and let the driver drive. The person on the other end of the phone can't do that.

Oh, and a human being can drive with one hand too.

 

[JJR512]

The radio doesn't require interaction past changing the channel and the passenger is watching traffic conditions, so they know when they need to shut up and let the driver drive. The person on the other end of the phone can't do that.

Oh, and a human being can drive with one hand too.

The problem isn't the interaction itself, the problem is the amount of attention the driver diverts to it.

You say that the problem with the person on the other end of the phone doesn't know when it's time to shut up and let the driver concentrate on driving, so that's why it's perfectly acceptable (in your opinion) to allow the driver to talk to the passengers. Well, the radio doesn't know when to be quite any more than the person on the other end of the cell phone.

Also, just because a passenger can see out the window doesn't necessarily mean that he or she will stop talking at the right moment.

I am just pointing this out as a devil's advocate. If you think one kind of driver distraction should be banned, then why not ban all forms of driver distraction? Passengers, radios...billboards...pretty girls walking down the street (probably distracts me more than anything else, honestly)...

 

[Motojunkie]

A human being can talk and drive at the same time. So you're saying that if you're having a conversation with the passenger or listening to the radio you're distracted?
Come on!

The radio and a phone are different and have been proven so in clinical studies. A good article. Another. Also, many things factor into our attention with one of the most important of which being complexity.

When driving and listening to the radio, the level of attention we are paying to the music attenuates (is turned down) because we are focused on driving. I would be willing to bet that when you are driving, you all of a sudden notice the song is over and say, "Where did the song go? It just started." That's because you were subconsciously paying less attention to it than you were to the road ahead. In addition to that, we've at least heard most songs before so we generally know how the song goes. Therefore, when we sing, we're only repeating what we already know and not having to generate the next sentence.

Phones on the other hand are the opposite. When we listen to a conversation, we have to process the information that the other person just told us and then formulate a response and say it back. Because of that, our brain attenuates (turns down) the level of attention we are paying to the road and puts more toward the phone conversation. Now, we do switch between the two when something happens like a car cuts you off or you almost drive off the road. Notice how at that moment, you were fully focused on driving, but then had to ask the person with which you were talking to repeat what they said? Granted, people vary widely in their ability to do two tasks, which is another big variable in our ability to do multiple tasks: expertise.

I'm not saying I support one side or the other, I'm just stating the facts.