USDOT beginning to think like me.

[Snowbird]

From the LA Times:

    LOS ANGELES TIMES

Using technology eyed for distracted drivers

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Transportation wants to employ technology against technology in its campaign against distracted driving. Cars should be designed to refuse to send texts, tweets or Facebook messages while they are moving, according to draft regulations.

~snip~

I've been saying this for a long time: The lure of phones and texting to most individuals is too great for prohibitions to ever work. Pleasure centers in the human brain will overcome any laws against calling and texting while driving. The only thing that is going to work is to require that phones' GPS is used to disable them while moving.

The article cited above is only going to apply to systems built into cars at the manufacturing level. But it is a start in the right direction.

It is also clear that the current crop of cell phones constitute a consumer product that is dangerous enough to warrant similar legislatively required standards to prevent their use in moving vehicles.
Whenever this is mentioned, someone always comes along to say it's not fair that they cannot use their phone while a passenger, but truth is there are plenty of consumer products that are somewhat crippled to prevent misuse. And many of those products are far less dangerous than phones when used in moving vehicles.

I applaud the USDOT for finally taking it's first tentative steps to prevent phone addicts from killing.

[caddydaddy]

More big brother....great!  

[Cablebandit]

The last thing we need are more laws.

[Hardware]

Actually, design it so that whenever a mouth-breathing cunt tries to text, e-mail or yap on their cell phone while behind the wheel, hazard lights activate on the vehicle, the engine then shuts down after a few seconds and before coming to a complete stop, the driver's airbags deploy.

Humans are fucking retarded and just won't pay attention until it involved them getting smashed in the face.  Literally.

[Kneescrubber]

Here's the full article.

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/feb/17/business/la-fi-autos-social-networking-20120217


And while I fully applaud their intentions it only applies to car manufacturers and the recent technology of texting/talking thru the onboard device.

[X1Glider]

I don't know about anyone else, but I can turn off the GPS feature on my phone to save my battery.  Turn it off and how will the phone know you are moving?

Might as well outlaw car stereos and install glass dividers between driver and passengers too.  Maybe fiddling with the electric seats is bad too.

[Snowbird]

Might as well outlaw car stereos and install glass dividers between driver and passengers too.  Maybe fiddling with the electric seats is bad too.

Grasping at straws with nonsense.

[FJR1300]

Grasping at straws with nonsense.

Wow... someone other than Snowbird has an opinion and Snowbird doesn't like the comment.

I am shocked. Really.

[1moreroad]

There is a little problem with banning the use of all the electronic gadgets in cars.  A little thing called the PASSENGER who SHOULD be allowed to use them.

IIRC before we could tweet to our Facetube accounts in our car, changing radio stations and adjusting climate controls were some of the leading causes of accidents.  X1 has a good point.  We motorcyclists also know that helmets reduce head injuries and deaths.  Those should be required in cars, too.

[JReazor]

There is a little problem with banning the use of all the electronic gadgets in cars.  A little thing called the PASSENGER who SHOULD be allowed to use them.

+1. They've already tried this with factory nav systems and it's nothing more then annoying.

[county]

Wow... someone other than Snowbird has an opinion and Snowbird doesn't like the comment.

I am shocked. Really.

He is appropriately responding to the post...IMO.

Being a cop, you don't recognize "ridiculous" as easily as us "citizens"

[X1Glider]

IIRC before we could tweet to our Facetube accounts in our car, changing radio stations and adjusting climate controls were some of the leading causes of accidents.

This is why I made the facetious comment.  I specifically remember a big "to-do" in the 80's about accidents going up due to fiddling with car stereo controls while driving.  Made sense to me.  It was the mid 80's when the aftermarket for car stereo was growing at an exponential rate and it was the "all-attention-grabbing-while-driving" rage much like texting and checking facebook while driving is today.  There were even attempts to mandate lock out the controls on factory radios when the car recognized it was moving.  Obviously it never happened.  Passengers that didn't need to pay attention may have had something to do with it remaining allowed.  I'll never know the real reasons but I do remember what the newspapers were saying then.

Now, aftermarket car sereos are getting to be pretty complex to operate and even decipher at a glance because there is so much visual information to discern on the displays and so many menus to wade through to get it to do what you want.  Even factory radios are getting this way, the way they are integrated with many informational and entertainment oriented systems.  I needed some filters for my Kia a month or so ago, so I was looking around the showroom and sat inside a decked out Optima and was utterly impressed with how far Kia has come.  The radio/information/entertainment/whatever the hell you call it system was capable of quite a lot.  It would be easy to unintentionally spend more time looking at that display than out the windshield.

Nothing ridiculous about my comment.  The way that American cars are so tech feature packed, it is easy to understand why Americans are among the worst drivers in the world.  We have features for distractions and convenience features that have made drivers lazy.  Christ!  You don't even need to close your own liftgates anymore.  How feckin' lazy is that?

[Windblown]

Just shoot anyone who was engaged in fiddling with a radio or a cell phone while driving that causes an accident.

It may not stop people from doing it but over time it will eliminate those that do.

[JReazor]

Just shoot anyone who was engaged in fiddling with a radio or a cell phone while driving that causes an accident.

It may not stop people from doing it but over time it will eliminate those that do.

You're not too far off. Penalties for distracted driving offenses should be as severe as those for drunk driving. License suspension, revocation, steep fines, jail time, all of it.

[Kneescrubber]

I have a plan for when I'm elected supreme overlord. And I want to start with the rubberneckers.

Each geographical region will be assigned snipers on very fast bikes or in very fast cars. Where ever there is a traffic clog due to rubberneckers, the closest sniper is dispatched. He has full on-scene authority to shoot those he sees holding up traffic by rubbernecking. Sure, that will slow down traffic as the bodies pile up, but I figure after a 6-month to a year adjustment period, people will get it.

Then we move on to cell-phone users.

I hate rubberneckers, and I think it's high time for such measures.

What would the pay be like? I may be interested.

[Cablebandit]

and have a life-long career.

Real world translation:  You'll die at your desk or be shot by a co-worker.

[KodiakRS]

Make distracted driving a primary offense in all 50 states.  $300 fine, report to the insurance company, and installation of a cellphone disabling device in your car for 12 months.  Hey, we make drunk drivers install ignition interlocks right?

[Dan K]

There is a little problem with banning the use of all the electronic gadgets in cars.  A little thing called the PASSENGER who SHOULD be allowed to use them.

Plus, how does the phone know if you are a passenger in a bus, train or taxi?  Too much big brother.

As for shooting the rubberneckers, maybe a bit extreme, but a surefire way to solve the problem over time...until a senator is trapped in the logjam behind the fifth or sixth traffic jam caused by dead drivers, and he gets the act rescinded, resulting in a bunch of dead people without solving the problem....   I like the wishful thinking.

How do we handle slow traffic that doesn't move right and paces the car to its right as a moving blockade on divided 4 lane highways?!?!??  LOVE to stop that one from happening.  They don't like it when I give them a flash of the brights, and when one tells me I'm number 1, and I invite them to chat on the side of the road, they seem to not want to drive anywhere near me.  Hmmm...

- Dan

[Hardware]

Don't make it a function of the phone sensing its own motion - make it a function of the phone being shut down when within the confines of the driver's position in a vehicle.  

[Hardware]

I think it's just not feasible. It's draconian, and totally gamable.

Bottom line, Police should have the ability to write for distracted driving...

This is what most people don't understand.  Most (if not all) jurisdictions have had a traffic law addressing this all along.

The problem is seeing them driving with undue care and attention and being able to prove it to a judge later.

It's not an issue of legislation but an issue of practical enforcement.