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NHTSA Suggestion Would Cripple In-Car GPS Displays
bricko writes "The recently issued National Highway Transportation Safety Agency guidelines for automakers to minimize distraction for in-vehicle electronics included a proposal to freeze maps on navigation systems. No more scrolling maps...just static pictures. 'Every current installed navigation system uses the car as a fixed point, and shows the map moving around it. NHTSA wants that changed so as to keep the map fixed. Even showing the position of the car moving on the map could be considered a dynamic image. The recommendation seems to suggest that the position of the car could only be updated every couple of seconds. Likewise, the map could be refreshed once the car has left the currently displayed area. This recommendation would essentially make navigation unusable. The system could still give an auditory warning for the next turn, but without being able to glance down at the map and see how close the next street is would likely lead to a lot of missed turns and resultant frustration.'"
Yet another example of big government encroaching on personal liberties and freedoms in the name of safety. Soon we'll be so safe we won't need to leave our houses! We won't be allowed, either.
The game isn't liberal vs conservative - that's just a red herring. Freedom vs tyranny is the real issue.
I have mod points. The reign of terror begins now.
Very good point. It's an odd example, but kind of applies. In the game Angband (a roguelike), there is an option to keep the map centred on the player. Normally I don't use this, because it slows things down on slower hardware, and the game has my full attention. If however I get teleported somewhere, I do fine myself needing to spend time trying to locate myself, as it's not immediately obvious. It seems silly to place drivers in the situation where they must spend time scanning the map for their car.
Not sure how your story is relevant. Oh, wait a minute....you've got a teleporting car?
Ideally though maybe it's best that devices are required to blank the map when the car is traveling above a certain speed, relying only on audio prompts.
Yes, I'd certainly appreciate that when I'm using the GPS in the passenger seat. Oh wait, no I wouldn't.
On top of all of this, I find it fairly interesting and a bit disturbing that contained within all these proposals, in addition to revenue generation at the local level, is the presumption that it is the job of nanny/father government to take care of every little thing in life. Even several of the comments on here just presume that somehow it is the role of government to prevent these distractions in the first place. I've yet to see a single comment questioning whether that is proper in the first place, just how intrusive it should be and in which direction.
And people wonder why the government is so powerful and intrusive these days?
I was raised on the command line, bitch
"Nemo me impune lacesset"