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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."

26 of 208 comments (clear)

  1. Another one of these laws by indiigo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    uh newsflash.

    This is one of those laws where most people ignore it. Like Jaywalking, Speeding, and Sodomy!

    It's difficult to enforce, due to the lack of similar laws in neighboring cities and townships.

    "Sorry, Jim, going into Suffolk county now, gotta hang up cause there's signs everywhere! I'll reach ya via bluetooth!"

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  2. Re:Why? by MadocGwyn · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Because of people talking on cell phones getting into accidents, some states have full bans some states require hands free devices

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  3. it's going to be "Blue Eye" networking. by garcia · · Score: 3, Funny

    when I connect w/the driver's face after he hits me b/c he was too busy talking to someone else instead of paying attention to where he was going.

  4. This is going to take a while! by damu · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It is not just the fact that cellphone take one hand away from the wheel it is also the dialing, the looking for a phonenumber, the dropping your cell phone and looking for it under your seat, while keeping one eye on the road and the foot on a the pedal. Until, a car product can get rid of these "dangers" that cell phone cause, things will remain the same.

    dam(U)

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  5. car cellphones? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    When did cellphones gain sentience, let alone power to pass laws? And when did they become our masters, telling us where we can use our technology and where -- hang on, lemme get that...

  6. Distraction by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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....

    1. Re:Distraction by Kithraya · · Score: 3, Insightful

      So by extension, talking to a passenger in your car is also dangerous?

    2. Re:Distraction by plumby · · Score: 5, Insightful
      From what I remember of the research, it showed that passengers are usually reasonably aware of what is going on on the road and will often stop talking to the driver if they detect danger, such as a busy junction, whereas the person on the other end of the phone has no knowledge of what is going on, and therefore cannot react in the same way.

      So the answer to your question is no (or at least not to the same extent).

  7. Not what drove me... by toupsie · · Score: 5, Informative
    Car Cellphone Bans Driving Bluetooth

    I bought an Ericsson T68i phone because of iSync and its connection to the phone via Bluetooth -- lets you also send SMS from the computer. Nothing sucks more about a cell phone than trying to use the keypad to enter phone book items. Plus the Ericsson T68 is pretty much a Palm killer with its Calendar and voice recorder.

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  8. Spirit of the law by aridhol · · Score: 5, Insightful
    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.
    OK, the law says you can't have a cell phone. There's probably a reason for this (safety?). Now, the manufacturers are trying to violate the spirit of the law while following the letter. While not technically illegal, it's still wrong.
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    1. Re:Spirit of the law by LFS.Morpheus · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The law, at least in New York, says you can't use it without a hands-free headset of some kind. The article provides little insight into the laws that are trying to be passed in Europe, but I believe an outright ban is pretty unlikely ("70% of calls are made from the car" -- there's certainly a lot of corporate interest that will make their voice heard).

      The point is, using bluetooth to automatically recognize a nearby headset and use it without wires going all over the place is certainly an improvement. More people will follow the law if its more convienant. Even more-so, the phone can communicate with the car, and use the in-car speakers and a built-in microphone. Nothing to put on, and nothing to set up.

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  9. Security by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Gives a whole new meaning to war driving.

    Pull up beside someone with a BlueTooth enabled phone and make a call.

  10. Re:Why? - b/c it's dangerous! by tchapin · · Score: 5, Informative
    Here's some interesting reading:

    People try to do way too many things while driving. I have a bad habit of talking on the phone, as well as switching CDs. Driving is difficult b/c it can be so unpredictable, and people lose sight of that fact. Here's some articles on use of telematics while driving:

    My company recently did a study on telematics use and driver/user attention, and it was pretty freaky how poorly people were able to attend to their main task while performing the secondary telematics task.

    Todd

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  11. Sheesh!! there is a reason cell phones are banned. by goombah99 · · Score: 5, Funny
    This is like saying "oh no officer I haven't been drinking, I've just been using an experimental hallucinogen that isn't listed as an illegal drug". There is a reason cell phones are banned, merely escaping on a technicality is not solving the problem. The problem is lack of driver attention. Hands free sets dont solve that either.

    it should just be a crime to drive inattentively or to create diversions for yourself.

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  12. Safety Issue by neurostar · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The issue of cell phones in cars is somewhat serious. I know a couple people who have been involved in accidents because they were talking on their cell phones and didn't have time to react. A person who is holding their phone up to their ear is more occupied and so is less likely to be able to respond in a timely fashon.

    Some form of headsets are a good idea. They require less attention to the phone and allow the driver to simply talk without worrying about holding the phone up. However, even those cheap $20 ones work just fine for this purpose.

    Using bluetooth for this makes bluetooth seem like an answer searching for a question. Using bluetooth would just be using hype to sell super-expensive headsets. I think those cheap one will suffice.

    Of course... I don't need any sort of headset. I am an excellent driver and I can concentrate on the road without a headset...

    neurostar
  13. More on the spirit of the law... by krinsh · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How many of you have your kids quiet in the car while driving? How many of you don't like driving with passengers because... they are a distraction? ANYTHING that distracts you from the most immediate and important task - DRIVING - should, pardon the pun, take an immediate and complete back seat to anything but driving when you are on the road. Hundreds upon hundreds of accidents each year should drill that concept into you. It's no wonder I see more and more luxury-class vehicle accidents than I do even drunk driving incidents anymore. High speed and cellphones are the new alcohol intoxication of today's highways.

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  14. It's like driving drunk by yerricde · · Score: 3, Insightful

    has nobody heard of hands free headsets?

    When a fellow talks on the phone while driving, even with a headset, the conversation still reduces his concentration to the level of a driver at the legal limit for alcohol intoxication.

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  15. Hands free not safer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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."

  16. BMW already has it, & bluetooth in development by LFS.Morpheus · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.)

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  17. Hands-Free is Not a Panacea by herwin · · Score: 5, Informative

    Research indicates the problem with using a cell phone while driving is the distraction of conducting a phone conversation while also controlling a car, not the hands off the steering wheel. Drivers using a head-set experience the same increase in accident rate (to a level similar to driving drunk) as drivers using a cell-phone. See this legal discussion.

  18. Barking up the wrong tree by Cutriss · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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...

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    1. Re:Barking up the wrong tree by Hanno · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

      It's called a railway train and it's been around since a few decades. A subway and a bus also does what you look for.

      Now I know that the railway system in Northern America stinks, but here in Europe, you'd be surprised how good it actually is. Fast, modern, not too pricy (although I wouldn't mind a price cut).

      I'm 30, I live in Hamburg, I have a small company, I travel a lot within Germany (to both big and small cities), I have a driver's license but I don't own a car. I don't expect to buy a car at least within the next five years.

      Trains do everything I need for distant travels. The Hamburg tram and bus system does everything I want for local travel except when I have to transport some heavy object e.g. furniture. That's when I rent a car or ask a friend for help.

      And when train, tram, subway and bus don't reach the place I want to go to, I hop on a taxi.

      So far, the costs are much lower than owning a car in Germany (fuel, insurances, maintenace, etc.), but I guess that owning a car is significantly cheaper in the US, so it's tough to compare.

      That's time that I can't do anything useful with...study, read, play a game, nothing.

      That's exactly why I like not having a car. Leave the driving to someone else, I just work a little on my laptop or bring my pillow and rest a few hours.

      market a feature that customers want and have been sociologically clamoring for the last decade

      Do customers want this and did they clamor for it for the last decade? Because if they did, the bigger US cities would have a much better public transportation system, Amtrak wouldn't suck and Greyhound buses wouldn't be the poor man's ride they are today.

      (I know what I talk about. I had a 8 week trip through the US on a Greyhound ticket. It was fun and the bus system isn't actually bad, but no average US citizen would want to see as an alternative to having a car.)

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  19. This is great!! by MongooseCN · · Score: 3, Funny

    While riding my bike I've been nearly hit twice by drivers talking on their cell phones and not concentrating on the road. But now if people use Bluetooth technology to transmit their voice to their cellphones instead of talking directly on the cellphone, I'll be perfectly safe!

    What other loopholes will people try to get away with next?

    Sorry officer, I didn't mean to go through that intersection and run over that biker, but according to my color sensor that street light had an RGB value of (253, 0, 0) so it wasn't fully red.

  20. The trouble is not found in the handset by Brother+Fjordhr · · Score: 5, Informative

    The trouble with cell phone safety is not in the nature of the handset (or hands free set) it is in the conditioned response to phone calls. All this article seems to be pushing is another hands free approach to cell phones. This article http://http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1885775.stm reports that, "hands-free kits were almost as dangerous as hand-held phones."

    The point of this article is that, "Reaction and stopping times were much slower Talking on a mobile phone while driving is more dangerous than being over the legal alcohol limit, according to research."

    This article http://http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/n ews/2001/01/25/Consumers/cellphones_study010125 provides this quote on the issue

    "The bandwidth of the brain is actually quite limited," says Dr. John Vavrick, the research psychologist in charge of the study.

    "Time sharing and multi-tasking does not come easily to the human brain."

    The study used 41 drivers and gave each a series of tests to perform while answering questions through a speaker in the car.

    Researchers found the driver's mental state was equally affected whether he or she was using a hands-free phone or not.

    This is just a small sampling of the articles of the danger presented by using a cellphone while driving. The risk just isn't worth it, hang up and drive!.

    1. Re:The trouble is not found in the handset by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 3, Informative
      For some more than others. Sadly, the more bandwidth limited are the least likely to realize this.

      Actually, I'm a low bandwidth person, and I'm very aware of it. What I mean is that while I am IMHO brilliant, my brain has noticeably less I/O bandwidth than most people. I guess more of my brain functions got allocated to high level processing, and less to DSP-like tasks.

      This bugs the hell out of my wife because I just can't effectively talk or listen while I'm trying to do or think about something else. She thinks that I'm intentionally tuning her out when often I wasn't even aware that I should be tuning her in.

      Even though I have excellent hearing as rated by hearing tests, I've always had a hard time picking out conversations in noisy environments such as bars. Not enough noise rejection circutry.

      Since cellphone calls usually have poor quality and lots of noise, I often find it hard to decode what the other person is saying in real time even if I'm doing nothing else. A big problem with cellphones and driving in general is that it seems to take up much more of your brain's low level I/O functions to recover the conversation signal out of a crappy cellphone speaker than it does to just talk to a passenger normally.

      I am a good driver, so I think that I have plenty of geometry and physics processing ability. It seems to me, though, once your low level audio processing has failed to successfully decode the message, the brain can pull in cycles (inefficently) from higher level areas. You use more of the language and logic processing centers to error correct what you're hearing at a higher semantic layer. I think that this can starve the portion of your logic ability that's needed to support the low level driving tasks.

      Basically, regardless of how the handset works, I think cellphones will be dangerous for driving until they significantly clean up the audio quality.

  21. If you think that cell phone and driving mix well. by YrWrstNtmr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...try this.

    Crank up your fave FPS or driving simulator. Get really into it. Mark down how soon you crash/get killed out.

    Now call someone and try to have a meaningful talk on the hone with them while playing the same game. Now see how fast you get killed out.

    Behind the wheel of your car, there is no "reset".