Slashdot Mirror


The Case For a Safer Smartphone

itwbennett writes: "According to the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, people who text and drive increase their chances of 'safety-critical events' by a multiple of 23.2. And new research is constantly rolling out, showing the same thing: 'We can't handle the visual, manual, and cognitive commitment of using a phone while driving,' writes blogger Kevin Purdy. What's needed, Purdy suggests, isn't more laws that will go ignored, but phones that know enough to stop giving us the distractions we ask them for: 'I think the next good phone, the next phone that makes some variant of the claim that it "Fits the way you live," needs to know that we don't know what is good for us when it comes to driving. We want to be entertained and shown new things while doing the often mundane or stressful task of driving. More specifically, those phones should know when we are driving, quiet or otherwise obscure updates from most apps, and be able to offer their most basic functions without needing to turn on a screen or type a single letter.'"

2 of 184 comments (clear)

  1. STFU by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    Damn, the safety nazi's are more anoying than the bitcoin pushers.

  2. Re:Time has come to programmatically disable featu by Joce640k · · Score: -1, Troll

    How would the phone differentiate between the driver and passengers?

    It wouldn't, but SO FUCKING WHAT?

    Pulling over to text/phone will add about 30 seconds to your journey.

    They could even build special little texting areas on the freeways for people who really really can't wait.

    How about passengers on a train?

    Um, GPS.

    --
    No sig today...