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New System Detects Calls While Driving
Gary writes "Talking on your cellphone while driving isn't a crime in most states, but it should be. Studies have shown that people who drive and talk are many times more likely to have an accident. A new company is releasing a device to automatically detect drivers talking on their cell phones. Instead of police officers needing to observe a cellphone in use, the system automatically detects a cell phone call and records which car was making the call." The article is fairly light on details, but it would be interesting to see how the system differentiates from a driver talking on a cell phone versus a mere passenger.
Better be something better than blow up.... http://realdoll.com/ Where she might help you even get out of a ticket if caught, in exchange for a favor...
-Ted
-=-=- Quantum physics - the dreams stuff are made of.
The company's site explains (in annoying Flash) that the system merely photographs the car. Later, the photos are manually inspected to determine whether it was the driver who was using the phone.
I'll start.
From the study:
Tags != Comments, and -1 (Troll) != -1 (I Would Respond Angrily To This Poster So They Must Be Trolling)
In my '06 Ford Ranger, there is a complicated procedure you can follow to electronically disable the seatbelt alarm. It involves a sequence of 'fasten belt x times, etc.' and I haven't yet verified it works. But it's published in the owner's manual. Check your owner's manual. The feature might not be described (or available) in non-truck models.
"how many without a cell phone will be tagged because they have On Star."
More importantly, what's GM going to do about this? There's big money in OnStar, costs $200-$300/yr if you pay yearly. GM's just going to roll-over and take this?
What about all the bluetooth headset providers? Most people bought the headsets specifically for driving.
What about the National Association of Realtors? I can't imagine they're taking this sitting down and believe it or not they do have a pretty powerful lobbying group. Realtors live off their cellphone, business would be nearly impossible without being able to answer their phones 24/7.
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
Why do they need to "invent" a separate system at all. Most modern phones have GPS built in, which can be used to determine velocity. I would say anyone traveling over 25 MPH is probably in some sort of vehicle. The GPS could also be used to determine if the location was on a "road". Admittedly this still faces the problem of determining whether the person talking was a driver or a passenger.
I live (and ride) in Denver. All numbers are 10 digits here. That may inflate my impression of the impact of dialing.
-Peter
Headsets or speaker phones being safer while driving is a myth.
We are all just people.
the difference between a driver talking on a hands-free cell phone and the same driver having a conversation with a passenger.
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The difference is mainly involved in visualization of the person you are talking to. You aren't just listening to words, you are imagining the person, their expressions, their gestures, etc. Found an interesting study here: http://spotlight.siu.edu/03082006/Hands-freeconve
We are all just people.
And before you tell me to RTFA linked in the grandparent post, I *HAVE* read the article.
Notice how their test DIDN'T include in their actual test phase a "passenger conversation" experiment phase at all.
Also, the difference between hands-free sets and normal sets were minimal... but then again the experiment only required one hand, not two (and most non-US cars are driven with two hands, not one).
I could go to lengthy detail in pointing out further defficiencies in their procedure (so the experiment is close to meaningless for real-life situations), about the insignificant increase in "miss rates" and so on and so forth, but I don't really have to.
So, why don't I have to ?
Because their own CONCLUSION was that the CONVERSATION itself provided the distraction, as opposed to doing nothing, listening to the radio or a book on tape.
In other words, talking to a passenger or talking on the phone is equally distracting and accident-prone.
By reading this signature you agree to not disagree with the post you just read.
Sorry, but this has already been hashed out.
Short answer: Because this -
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