Software Holds Cell Phone Calls While Driving 452
An anonymous reader writes "Canadian company Aegis Mobility has developed software that detects if a cell phone is moving at 'car' speeds. If so, the software, DriveAssistT, will alert the cellular network, telling it to hold calls and text messages until the drive is over. Calls are not blocked entirely; callers will be notified that the person appears to be driving, but they can still leave an emergency voice mail, which will be sent through immediately."
Some facts (Score:5, Informative)
From here [aegismobility.com]
but don't let that get into your 2 minutes of hate.
Re:Its a good thing that passengers never make cal (Score:5, Informative)
Good thing there's a passenger mode and you can basically opt out. I have hands free in the car and I find it useful to take the occasional call, so I wouldn't use this in a car.
Motorbikes are different. I'd definitely use something like this eliminate the distraction of the phone ringing or buzzing when riding.
Re:More than just that they're driving... (Score:5, Informative)
Nope. Common misconception and just plain wrong
The reactions of drivers on phone calls are [theage.com.au] worse [walk.com.au] than [nowwearetalking.com.au] the reactions of drunk drivers. Check those links, or use google, you'll find a mass of studies supporting this.
So if you are someone who thinks it's okay to drive while on the phone, please turn in you license and refrain from driving at all.
Re:More than just that they're driving... (Score:1, Informative)
That is ridiculous, anyone that CAN'T drive while talking on the phone should turn in their licence or refrain from driving at all.
Comparing drunk driving to driving with a cell phone is even more ridiculous because you can turn off the phone if more attention is needed for the road but you can't turn off being drunk.
If someone cannot pay attention to their driving because they are talking on the phone then they should be charged with careless driving not driving with a cellphone. Simply talking on the phone while driving does not and should not constitute careless driving.
fckn' fascists
Re:This is brilliant (Score:3, Informative)
Re:More than just that they're driving... (Score:2, Informative)
Nope. Common misconception and just plain wrong
The reactions of drivers on phone calls are [theage.com.au] worse [walk.com.au] than [nowwearetalking.com.au] the reactions of drunk drivers. Check those links, or use google, you'll find a mass of studies supporting this.
So if you are someone who thinks it's okay to drive while on the phone, please turn in you license and refrain from driving at all.
Did you even read the links you linked to?
From your first link:
"In the US in 2002, alcohol was a factor in 41 per cent of all fatal traffic accidents and in 6 per cent of all accidents. Data collected by 20 state highway authorities showed mobile phones were a factor in an estimated one-half of 1 per cent of all crashes and these crashes were more likely to be minor, rear-end collisions."
AND
"Mobiles are also not the most common or significant distraction for drivers. Only last month, Monash University's accident research centre found "interacting" with a car stereo is more distracting than using a hands-free mobile phone. An American study that analysed more than 32,000 traffic accidents caused by various driver distractions found mobile phones contributed to less than 2 per cent of accidents, while an outside object, person or event contributed to more than 29 per cent. Adjusting the radio or CD player contributed to more than 11 per cent of accidents."
I think the above says it all.
Re:More than just that they're driving... (Score:5, Informative)
anyone that CAN'T drive while talking on the phone should turn in their licence or refrain from driving at all.
Same goes for drunk driving.
I am perfectly capable of driving while drunk. The chance of killing myself or someone else in a crash increases from a tiny fraction of a percent when sober to a larger fraction of a percent when drunk. Anyone CAN drive drunk without killing anyone 99+ percent of the time.
Comparing drunk driving to driving with a cell phone is even more ridiculous
What, are you doing a Steven Colbert impression? You don't look stuff up in books because books are just filled with worthless facts? You don't use your brain, you just go with whatever your gut says?
Scientific research finds that drivers on cellphones have WORSE reaction times than criminally-drunk drivers:
Alcohol merely slows brain processing and reaction times. Using a cellphone entirely diverts higher brain functions, the task of driving is passed off to the brain's lower level autopilot systems. The brain's higher awareness systems are focused on the cellphone, unexpected events on the road outside may go completely unnoticed, and when they are noticed it takes longer to do so, and it takes the higher brain systems a moment to drop what they were doing and to switch over to processing the outside event, and then to first come up with the appropriate reaction. Drinking SLOWS reaction times to an unexpected event by a fraction of a second, but ususing a cellphone DELAYS reaction time to unexpected events by an even LARGER fraction of a second.
Autopilot-driving is sufficient to drive a car 99 percent of the time. Disasters generally occur when someone has a delayed or inappropriate reaction to some unexpected event, like a child running out into the road or someone cutting you off, or the car in front of you breaking. You can't just 'turn off your phone' after some other driver unexpectedly swerves into your lane. Well you CAN, but that is pointlessly too late to turn the cellphone off. You've already lost the reaction time and already hit someone.
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Re:Its a good thing that passengers never make cal (Score:2, Informative)
I really wish they'd create something that would turn Cellphones back on at the end of movies.
Sounds like you need to buy an Android phone and put Locale [localeandroid.com] on it. As a bonus, it will turn the phone's ringer off for you when you get there!
Re:This is different from the OFF button how? (Score:5, Informative)
In most of the states that have banned cell phones while driving, the way the law is written covers CBs as well.
Fact is, all of the research shows that any conversation while driving is dangerously distracting. It takes attention off the road, and the brain takes nearly 3/4 of a second to shift focus back. If someone is on the phone (hands free or not), or yelling at their kids they are equally distracted and if something happens in front of them that doesn't give them 3/4 of a second window to react, they will get into an accident.
Its fairly well understood which cognitive activities don't mesh well with driving. Talking is one, although I've seen some studies that suggested that "disembodied" talking (where the other person isn't right there) is somewhat worse. Some things apparently aren't, like eating, although of course there's a risk of dropping or spilling which then turns into a distraction.
Of course cognitive scientists aren't asked when laws are being written, so they tend to cover the wrong things.
So the grandparent is quite right. And so are you, its the same set that thinks they can carry on a conversation safely. Only you were being sarcastic and were only accidentally correct.
Re:This is different from the OFF button how? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:This is different from the OFF button how? (Score:4, Informative)
How is talking on a phone (hands free) different than talking with a passenger?
The research I've seen says it isn't and that talking on the phone with or without a hands-free device are both equally distracting and equally likely to cause accidents.
The only plus I can see for talking to passengers over someone via the phone is that the passenger is still able to be somewhat observant of the vehicle's surroundings and alert the driver if they notice something is going wrong. 2 distracted heads are better than one distracted head, or something...