Slashdot Mirror
Car Cellphone Bans Driving Bluetooth
jmatheny14 noted that the BBC is running an article about an unexpected side effect of car cellphone bans. It says"Legislation banning the use of mobile phones in cars is spurring car manufactures to look for alternatives such as Bluetooth." and "Because it can be used with a hands-free headset that can connect to a mobile phone even if the device is some distance away, it could be a perfect way to get around the ban."
It isn't the actual holding of the cellphones that causes the danger, it just increases it. There was an experiment conducted, where a professional obstacle course driver was asked to count from 1 to 100 while navigating the course, and wasn't able to do it. His driving ability decreased by as much as 90% from simply counting. Bluetooth advancing is good and well, but not at the price of another increase in car accidents. As if drunk teens weren't enough....
I don't understand this. What does using a BlueTooth enabled headset have to do with a ban on Cell phones while driving?
Does the proposed ban make an exception for headsets? If so does it also allow wired headsets? Or wireless technologies other than BlueTooth? And how would having BlueTooth built into the car make any difference?
And why is everyone so excited about wireless Bluetooth headsets anyway? This seems like overkill when traditional, cheap, analog wireless would accomplish the same thing.
-Jason
We should note studies such as this one that show hands free cell phones also cause dangerous distractions while driving.
http://www.nsc.org/library/shelf/inincell.htm
"In sum, we found that conversing on either a hand-held or hands-free cell phone led to significant decrements in simulated driving performance. We suggest that the cellular phone use disrupts performance by diverting attention to an engaging cognitive context other than the one immediately associated with driving.
Our data suggest that legislative initiatives that restrict hand-held devices but permit hands-free devices are not likely to reduce interference from the phone conversation, because the interference is, in this case, due to central attentional processes."
I'm not exactly sure what options you have to have, or even if its out yet, etc (I think it is; should I be posting this? I'm sure its announced somewhere), but they have voice recognition for both dialing numbers and names. You have to program the names in and associate it with one of your memory slots. You activate by holding a button the steering wheel, which then prompts you, "Number please." It works pretty well, and with very little distraction from the road. All the hands-free stuff is built into the car.
They're investigating bluetooth mostly for the convienance that you don't even have to plug the phone into the car when you get in. Its in your briefcase? Thats fine! Of course, you still have to plug it in if you want your phone to charge (or, not discharge) while you drive. Not sure if it has the power to turn the phone on if its off.
(FYI -- the BMW systems relies on a specific Motorola phone (one of the StarNet varieties) which has support for their telephony functions. You can take the phone with you, but it needs to be plugged into the car system for it to integrate with the telephony functions. Also FYI, I have first hand experience with the system, and not by using some prototype at a car show, although I'm not sure if it was a final retail car, either. If it isnt release yet, I'm sure they'll have it out really soon. No idea when to expect bluetooth.)
The space unintentionally left unblank.
Legislation banning the use of mobile phones in cars is spurring car manufactures to look for alternatives such as Bluetooth.
Gee...it's too bad their vision is sp clouded by dollar signs that they can't see what the customer *really* wants.
Why do people talk on cellphones? Because they want to be more productive...whether it's just chatting with a friend about whatever, or talking to the spouse about what to pick up at the store, or getting your ass chewed by the boss for missing a deadline...Cellphones are useful because they allow us to be productive during time when life is otherwise wasted.
Hold your screams for a minute.
I attend college around five hours from my hometown. Whenever me and my girlfriend decide we want to go home for the weekend, that 48 hour weekend is chopped down to 38 hours, since we lose 10 hours in travel time. That's time that I can't do anything useful with...study, read, play a game, nothing.
Perhaps automobile manufacturers should get past the marketing hype and actually market a feature that customers want and have been sociologically clamoring for the last decade - Self-driving cars. I would easily pay double the price of a current car model to get a car that drives without my assistance or attention. Think about how much time you lose in a year to driving. You could be working in the car on the way to the office and counting it as your work time. You could be spending time with your family while you're on the way to see the parents. You could be watching a movie while you're in the middle of a boring ten-hour drive to San Antonio or whatever.
This is a really stupid move on the part of car manufacturers, as it shows them trying to solve customer needs on the path of least resistance. I think they're approaching the problem from the wrong end, though. We have the technology to solve the problem...and with economies 'round the world in the crapper, this would be an *ideal* way to jumpstart the manufacturing sector. Self-driving cars would reduce insurance premiums, make roadways safer, and increase quality of life. How many people do you know that would instantly go out and buy a new car to get this wasted time back? I know I would...
"Mod, mod, mod...and another troll bites the dust."
I agree entirely. You can probably safely pull over within 5 minutes - and how many calls are so urgent that they can't wait 5 minutes? Or what about this? Some button you can press on the phone which says "hold on, I'm driving at the moment and looking for somewhere to pull over safely..." Perhaps that could be a button on the steering wheel or something. You could even provide some feedback on how quickly you might do that. As in "pulling over now" or "this is going to be really tricky, why don't you leave a message and i'll call you back". My point is, some way you could make those responses without having to enter a conversation.