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US Regulators Seek To Reduce Road Deaths With Smartphone 'Driving Mode' (theguardian.com)
US regulators are seeking to reduce smartphone-related vehicle deaths with a new driving-safe mode that would block or modify apps to prevent them being a distraction while on the road. From a report on The Guardian:The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) are to issue voluntary guidelines for smartphone makers, which will seek to restrict the apps and services accessible on a smartphone being used by a driver. US transport secretary Anthony Foxx said: "Your smartphone becomes so many different things that it's not just a communication device. Distraction is still a problem. Too many people are dying and being injured on our roadways." The NHTSA is hoping that Apple, Samsung and other popular smartphone manufacturers will adopt the guidelines in future smartphone and software releases. The so-called driving mode will block distractions such as social media, messages or email, stop the use of the keyboard for communication activities and also restrict access to websites, video and distracting graphics. The intention is that the driving mode will be adopted in a similar manner to the airplane mode common to most smartphones and connected devices, which restricts radio communications while airborne. Airplane mode has been a feature of smartphones since 2007.
Seems like this is a difficult problem to solve. Ideally the individual has sense enough to make the obvious choice to not interact with their device while driving. Sadly, that has not proven to be the case.
The solution here is rather simple. It's called real fucking punishment for the people hurting or killing other humans on the road in incidents where distracted driving was clearly the cause.
Insurance companies should not cover any costs. The individual should have to. Suspended license for 12 months. On top of that, no US cellular carrier is legally allowed to issue offenders a phone in their name for a period of 6 months.
Driving while operating cellular devices is already against the law. Enforcement is only effective with actual deterrents. If we had real punishment, we wouldn't have to be going to such extremes as motion-sensitive apps, or trying to figure out how to block the driver and let the precious snowflakes in the other seats continue to feed their cellular addictions.
You can say that again. I was an insurance agent trainee 2 years ago, and often carpooled w/ my boss. She had reckless driving habits - watching videos on the phone, doing snapchat, and another trainee would happily play Candy Crush Saga when she was at the wheel. I would offer to drive so that they could happily play, sometimes they accepted, sometimes they declined. My boss' response was: "So far, I've never had any accidents"
what about the passengers ?
What about them? Believe it or not operating your phone in a moving vehicle wasn't an option for close to 100 years. It's only in the last 30 that it has become a thing. I assure you that the passengers would survive without their smartphone fix for the duration of the drive. I spent most of my early driving years without any sort of mobile phone and not coincidentally 100% of us were not killed by people playing with their phones.