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Legislators Ponder BlackBerry Pileups

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the posted-from-i-94 dept.

WSJdpatton writes to mention that legislators are taking a look at a new driving offense, DWT — Driving While Texting. Sparked by an increase in accidents related to the use of an electronic devices, this is just the latest in a string of "distracted driving" laws that are being entertained. "Some wireless industry supporters argue that statutes barring texting while driving are too specific. What is needed, they say, is not narrowly focused legislation, but a campaign to educate the public about all driver distractions. In Washington, D.C., an industry lobby group called CTIA -- The Wireless Association has begun tracking legislation, including Ms. McDonald's bill, and scratching out a strategy to counter it."

4 of 333 comments (clear)

  1. Saw a lady doing needle point as she drove down 50 by HornWumpus · · Score: 2, Informative

    Unfucking believable. I was tempted to put her in the ditch on principle.

    --
    John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  2. Re:Why not just have a new "dee dee dee" driving t by whisper_jeff · · Score: 2, Informative

    why should i be given fines and increased insurance because other people cant handle it.

    Because you're wrong - you can't handle it. You've handled it _so far_ but you're increasing your risk while driving distracted. Period. You may never get into/cause an accident, but your risk of doing so is higher than mine.

  3. UK Prison Sentence for DWT by jjeffrey · · Score: 3, Informative

    This is already covered by UK law - either driving without due care and attention, or causing death by dangerous driving.

    In fact someone who caused a fatal accident while texting has been sentenced to jail for 2 years, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/6357425.stm and another to a young offenders institution, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/6448887. stm.

    But it's common to other EU countries too, here is another example from France; http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3673632.st m

  4. Too much "head-down time" by Animats · · Score: 4, Informative

    Aviation cockpit designers think hard about this stuff. They refer to it as "head-down time", the time the pilot is looking at something else in the cockpit and not out the windscreen. In combat, this is fatal. Hence the military emphasis on heads-up displays and HOTAS (Hands On Throttle and Stick) input devices. In civilian aircraft, cockpits are designed to minimize head-down time at least during takeoff, approach, and landing.

    Much automotive and civilian gear is terrible by these standards. Cockpit designers insist on big knobs you can set by feel and interfaces that minimize head-down time. They try hard to avoid interfaces with unneeded state, and ones where you have to look to see what state you're in. BMW's iDrive was terrible in this regard. BMW's answer was to include a disclaimer that it was unsafe to operate iDrive while driving. Really.

    One design feature that can kill - an interface which times out. The pilot/driver must be able to stop dealing with some cockpit gadget without losing any work. Phones/keyboards/dashboard devices that time out during data entry are dangerous, because they train the user to give them undivided attention. Some phones have this problem, and some don't. Texting has this problem.

    "Nothing to watch but the road" - early Oldsmobile slogan.