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Wireless Invention Jams Teen Drivers' Cell Calls
alphadogg writes "University of Utah researchers have invented technology that could come to be embraced by teenagers with the same enthusiasm they have for curfews and ID checks. And like those things, it could save their lives. Key2SafeDriving technology uses RFID or Bluetooth wireless capabilities to issue signals from car keys to cell phones to prevent drivers from talking on their phones or texting while driving. A company called Accendo LC of Kaysville, Utah has licensed the technology and is working to build it into commercial devices that could be on the market next year. The company is sorting out how to bring the technology to market, but one possibility is that it would be made available through cell phone service companies and could also be tied in with insurance companies, which might offer discounts for users."
So if she is carjacked and raped, at least the assailant won't be burning up her Roll Over minutes!!
And it's raspberry!
"I only speak the truth"
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It seems to me that it would be tied to a single phone. It would be illegal to blanket jam, if I'm recalling FCC regulations correctly. A jamming signal might impair the communications of a passing vehicle.
Colin Dean Go a year without DRM
Great, now we're going to have people texting with their arms outside the window.
The invention does not jam the cell it activates software. This is entirely different as a signal that jams the cell would cause the cell battery to run down early and will also disrupt nearby driver's conversations and signals. Not to mention jamming would be illegal.
Still prevents anyone in the car from using your phone. And it still allows you to use someone else's phone while driving. This is stupid and too easily defeated.
The car sends a signal to software on the phone that disables texting and calling any non-approved numbers. 911 is enabled by default and the parents can set further phone numbers which can be called.
"Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
Why allow anyone to access his or her cell phone in the car, whether or not they are a teen? Better yet, let's put breathalyzers in all cars to prevent all drunk driving. Let's have RFID chips in everyone's drivers license and make sure only those insured and registered on a vehicle are driving the car. Hey, if you aren't breaking the law then you have nothing to worry about, right? Yeah...going down the path of "safety" is a scary thing.
"Engineering. Where the noble, semi-skilled laborers execute the vision of those who think and dream." -Sheldon
Apparently nobody bothered reading the article. The device is coupled with the cellphone and is provided by the cellphone company. It doesn't jam the phone it simply tells the phone not to make or receive calls. It does allow 911 calls.
Why not do what r2rknot said and mandate it for everyone? I live at the intersection of 2 roads that each go directly to the main entrance of 3 of the most populous central florida colleges and I find myself shouting "hang up and drive" almost exclusively at people who look to be in their mid 30s at least. Then again it IS a lot easier to just blame everything bad that happens on the road on teens and their terrible teen driving with teen cellphone use and teen teening teenager teen teening teenagers...
It occurs to me that if we stopped doing everything in our power to keep them from getting any experience driving or learning to drive safely that they might actually be better drivers. I can't be the only one that thinks that shite simulators, mandatory "here watch these gory movies" classes that make up drivers ed, and the flailing screaming fits of parents in the passenger seat that pass for practice are counter-productive to the desire for better teen drivers.
A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
Try reading the article next time. This is a willingly used device. It also doesn't jam signals in any manner you are speaking of.
You must be new here...
I thought we might actually have to raise our kids right. Thank God for this technology!! Now I can ignore my kids again.
Good thing no teenager is tech-savvy enough to bypass this. I hear they're working on a porn filter next.
I'm reasonably sure these guys have thought of at least that. I'm still not sure it's a useful idea, but I doubt that particular objection will hold.
PHEM - party like it's 1997-2003!
So the key sheath what sends the signal... meaning that it's going to be extra expensive to lose/break/etc?
It seems to depend on a lot of factors that aren't going to go over very well:
a) You need the key
b) You need a supported phone
c) You need your phone tied to the key
d) The auto-response feature won't work against landlines or phones that don't support texting (in the ad it shows a text message).
Overall, it generally looks really fucking irritating. I avoid the phone when possible if I'm in the car, but there can be reasons to make a call when stopped etc (running late) or to receive calls in an emergency.
The question of "what if it's a business call" and the answer of "it'll text the caller that you're driving" isn't going to go over very well, nor it is going to when your mother calls 5-min in to say "your dad is in the hospital" while you're headed out to a 4h drive...
I was once reared ended by a guy who stopped his phone conversation just long enough to say those scratches on his bumper are from the last person he ran into. Some people never learn!
Think Deeply.
yeah, forget teenagers, put them in everyone's cars! If it's soooo important, they can pull over otherwise the people can wait until they get there. The only thing is, wrapping the end of your key in maybe tin foil but definitely a faraday screen material would probably make it work and that's pretty cheap to do.
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They could disable the phone itself through Bluetooth, thus bypassing any FCC regulations. It is equivocal to a parent turning off a child's video games at times when they should be doing homework. The phone still works for 911, just not anything else.
That's the first I've seem about it since [b]V[/b]. Security saves lives. Properly trained, and armed law enforcements have the possibility to save lives. Curfew, not.
--- "When you gotta do something wrong. You gotta do it right. (Fighter)"
Even if 911 is allowed, other highly relevant calls cannot be made.
This is like speed bumps: sounds good, until the ambulance or cop can't get to you in time because they have to go from 50 to 5 MPH periodically in the area, or can't move because they bottomed out the vehicle after hitting one at 50 after not seeing it.
How about facing the reality that bad things happen to stupid people doing stupid things, and teach kids to not be stupid? Proactively blocking their every move because they might do something dumb does not turn them into responsible adults.
Can we get a "-1 Wrong" moderation option?
So the biggest problem I see with this is that it essentially requires the driver to voluntarily use a matching key and cell phone that are sold as a set.
If the driver were going to voluntarily not talk on the cell phone, they could just not do it and save the money.
If you give this to a teenager and think this means they won't be texting or talking on a cell phone while driving, you need to spend more time with teenagers. As soon as there's another person with a cell phone in the car with them, they can borrow that cell phone to talk or text. If they're more devious (and have the money), they'll just get themselves another cell phone. If they really want to talk or text while driving, they will. This isn't going to stop them unless they're all alone in the car and very conscientious to begin with.
Giving it to adults as some sort of insurance incentive? That's a laugh. Adults are even worse than kids about working the system.
you know what? this is a good thing
having your life taken away by a teenager yakking on their cellphone is a much greater impingement on your freedom
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Will wreck their cars while messing around with their cell phone trying to get a good signal?
I went to eat some animal crackers and the box said, "Do not eat if seal is broken." I opened the box and sure enough..
How hard is it to ignore a phone? Let it ring until you can pull over and call them back. It works for me.
Please cite some examples of situations where 911 is not appropriate but yet you must make a phone call while driving? A call so important (but not important enough for 911) that it will actually make you safer if you do it while you are still driving instead of pulling to the side of the road or waiting for a stoplight.
That's all fine and good until stupid people start killing innocent people. The problem is that they often bring other people into the equation.
I will only be satisfied when cell phone jamming makes my cell phone ooze strawberry jam.
-Hey,our cell phone has been jammed.
-What kind of jam?
-Tastes like strawberry, sir.
-Strawberry jam? Theres only one man that uses strawberry jam. LONESTAR!!!
Or you could, you know, trust your kids.
Do parents even do that anymore?
I'll be honest, we're throwing science against the wall to see what sticks. -Cave Johnson
Need an automatic screenshot taker? Try here.
(hands free = no driving problems)
Wrong.
Except that many cars will not run unless they receive that signal from said key as well. So stopping the signal means the car will not start. I am not sure if wrapping the key after the car is started matters.
Still prevents anyone in the car from using your phone. And it still allows you to use someone else's phone while driving. This is stupid and too easily defeated.
Not to mention, you can get a copy of your car key (granted, it may cost $100 if it's got an embedded chip, but still). Keep the key in the sleeve, use the copy to drive the car.
Don't you wish your girlfriend was a geek like me?
"If they're more devious (and have the money), they'll just get themselves another cell phone."
Are the cars using an ignition system that *requires* one of these special keys to even start the vehicle? If not, and it just happens that the key the folks gave me disables the phone, but a *different* key won't disable the phone, the teen will just spend $5 to have another, old-fashioned key made.
The tag "whatcouldpossiblygowrong" is so right. Too bad we can't mod tags up.
Cell phones can be used for emergencies.
Worse yet, this does NOT solve any problem. If teens aren't smart enough to not use a cell phone from driving, maybe they shouldn't be driving in the first place.
They're Rollin' ... they're Hatin' ... ...
Tryin' to catch me Drivin' Stupid
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As far as I'm concerned, no one should be using their phone whilst driving (unless they're calling emergency services). Being in control of a car demands your full attention, if a call is that important, pull over and stop.
I wouldn't say "nobody". These devices generally never block 911.
"Thanks for all the money you paid to us. We've used it to buy off ISO among other things" -Microsoft
One obvious and MUCH MUCH safer implementation. Would be a phone log, one that added a note beside the call if it occurred on a road. Jamming or blocking calls is stupid and dangerous.
I'm thinking just turn off the bluetooth. I'm a teen (soon to be driving) and although I wouldn't use my cell in the car anyways (I'm in California, it's law) I'm sure I or any of my friends could bypass this device. Also, I'm guessing to program a number into the key you'll have a USB cable and some software (that would be the smart way to do it). I'll install the stuff on my computer and enter all my friend's numbers, my parents won't find out unless they're calling my friends from the car.
Not to mention that just turning off your phones bluetooth (generally a menu option) should foil it.
There are two kinds of fool One says 'This is old therefore good' Another says 'This is new therefore better'- Dean Ing
make this mandatory for taxi drivers then we'll be heading in the right direction.
Blazing Spiders
Are passengers cell phones blocked as well? This seems like another stupid idea to stop someone from harming themselves when using proper / good judgement would work as well or better. Teach your kid(s) to be responsible and you don't need crap like this. One blocked emergency call could cost a life. It sounds like a VERY bad idea to me.
Be Obscure Clearly
There are visual errors in time as well as in space.
...What's to stop anybody from just un-syncing their phone?
Maybe this would get kids interested in CB Radio or even Amateur Radio.
Wow, you've got two logical fallacies rolling here.
Post hoc, ergo propter hoc AND slippery slope.
There are plenty of reasons this IS and IS NOT a good idea depending on your circumstances. Constructing bad arguments to trash the entire idea as terrible is just plain stupid.
Never underestimate the stupidity inherent in all human beings.
Sadly, this probably wouldn't have stopped the drunken teen driver who literally drove into the oncoming lane of stopped traffic head on into my family's car a while back. (which left me with a broken neck and paralysis on the left side of my body...) But hey, I'm sure it would've at least ensured I'd be dead by preventing anyone else nearby from actually being able to call 911.
Yes, cellphone's are annoying... especially in the hands of those irresponsible enough not to obey the laws or observe social etiquette in using them. But this idea that we should have the right to jam a cellular signal just because we can do it is just trouble waiting to happen. As it is, we already have enough dead zones for the things... why add to them and further harm the usefulness of a potentially life-saving device?
You know what does make sense to me though? A car setup that can identify whether or not you're too drunk to drive and act in response it!
8==8 Bones 8==8
They can learn! Everybody can learn!
People are "stupid", because they
You can solve all of them trough
The only thing that's still hard to cure are genetic errors. But I trust the method of "infecting" people with modified virii that inject good DNA into cells. Think of a epidemic of something like this. You could cure the world by releasing such a virus into the wild. Just be very, very sure that it has no side-effects. ;)
So if you see someone who is really stupid, and you want to help him, find the *causes* of his stupidity, and fix them. But who am I telling this, when even most doctors don't care for causes anymore... :\
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
So what happens if there is an emergency coming from the other end?
ie. A parent or friend? I guess the death of a loved one will just have to wait til they get to the movie theater.
This is an example of the government being overly protective. If we never let people make mistakes, they'll never learn.
C7 C4 25 8A 11 BB 0D 40 8F 4E 4E 47 CA F0 BE 5B
Don't buy them a car. Don't buy them a cell-phone.
It's that simple.
Teenagers never cause crashes it's normally some old bitch picking her spoilt little shits up from school.
An SQL query goes to a bar, walks up to a table and asks, "Mind if I join you?"
Of course, if someone has died, the best way to go about things is to tell someone about it whilst they're driving at 70mph, so they can lose their concentration and crash, causing another death. Two birds with one stone eh?
What does this have to do with the government anyway? You really are an ignorant fucker.
"...curfews and ID checks. And like those things, it could save their lives." Fuck off. They're just undeniably control systems, on par with trying to govern morals.
Because she couldn't contact help. Then Nancy Grace's nuclear uterus will erupt with estro-fury.
Most of you are complaining that this is picking on teens, but why? Every teen I see driving is talking on the phone or texting. I see maybe one or two adults per trip that do this...not every single one of them.
A better solution is to ban cell phones altogether for EVERYONE while driving. Some of you are idiotic in your claims that you HAVE to have a cell phone for emergencies. Please, kind slashdotters, tell me what emergency can happen while you are physically controlling a vehicle. If you have an emergency, stop your vehicle and make a call. Is that really hard to undertsand? What kind of milk your wife wants you to pick up from the store is NOT an emergency.
Enforcement would be easy as well. A cop can drive around and spend an entire shift giving out tickets for texting/talking while driving (driving while distracted is a better term, to get those idiots who couldn't get up 5 minutes earlier to shave or put on makeup before going to work). For teens, I say you get a first time $500 ticket (parents won't like that!) and then a second ticket would suspend your license for two years. Adults would just pay out the nose for each offense...say $500 first offense, $1000 the next, $1500 for the third... $50 seat-belt violations don't work because $50 is NOTHING to most people, and it doesn't go on your insurance, so driving while distracted would have to have some real financial pain.
Actually you are wrong...there are studies. They show that most humans can address to stimuli at once. Listening to a radio and driving a car occupy two (hearing and seeing), but talking on a phone adds a third (speaking, and listening, which is different than hearing). This is why people crash cars when trying to talk on the phone and drive a giant SUV (and the fact that most of them are using one hand to hold the phone), but they usually don't crash when listening to the hits of the 80s, 90s, and beyond!
The other problem with your logic is that other forms of distracted driving don't always lead to dangerous interaction with other vehicles on the road. Somebody yelling at their kid in the back seat is more likely to just sit and block traffic, whereas an idiot on their cell phone just cuts you off or fails to yield because they are clueless to their surroundings--a far more dangerous scenario. Also, these idiots on their phones are on their phones for a LONG time, increasing the odds of a wreck. I can eat a hamburger in a minute (and keep both hands on the wheel while chewing). I can yell at my kid in two seconds flat and never take my eyes off the road. I can glance at scenery 42,000 times in one trip and still not be as distracted as one 5-minute phone call.
I bet statistically there are more accidents with people who had their car radio on while driving than there are with people using cell phones while driving.
That's because most people drive with the radio on, but ONLY IDIOTS use cell phones while driving. Since there are far more people driving with radios on than talking on cell phones, OF COURSE there are more accidents with people who had the radio on.
You mount it to your dash, and take your vengeance as you see fit.
sigs are for losers (except to point out that sigs are for losers)
"Just wait until the first death..." So you die from shock if you can't figure out how to use your cell phone after an accident?
Nope. Unlicensed jamming is a federal crime. I jammed signals for 12 years in the military...not a crime at all.
Nope. Unlicensed jamming of cellphone service is a violation of FCC regs. Having a license to jam makes jamming no longer illegal. I did it for 12 years in the Army...good times!
The way i understand, this would turn any car in a microwave oven? Nice idea. You go.
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