Driving with Mobiles...The Yanks may get it right before us!

[2Loose]

Interesting article on the US Secretary of Transportation's thoughts about using tech to stop mobiles in cars.

The Article.

Disclaimer: I haven't yet read the comments, but it sounds like the right way to be thinking.

 

[BentMikey]

Awesome!

 

[Theseus]

I saw this when I had my morning read of El Reg. I predict a growing industry aimed at disabling any such devices.

 

[Jezston]

Quite. That's if it even gets anywhere.

It also means disabling the phones of any passengers which isn't fair and potentially unconstitutional.

There are also other technicalities - do such small range cell jammers exist? How do you power them? Would they affect pedestrians passing parked cars or moving traffic? Are there health risks to whatever they are pushing out to jam the signal?

Much as I against mobile use in cars I think this may be a non-starter.

 

[aberal]

Much as I against mobile use in cars I think this may be a non-starter.

...and you can bet that someone somewhere would invent a disabler to disable the disabler.

 

[2Loose]

It also means disabling the phones of any passengers which isn't fair and potentially unconstitutional.

There are also other technicalities - do such small range cell jammers exist? How do you power them? Would they affect pedestrians passing parked cars or moving traffic? Are there health risks to whatever they are pushing out to jam the signal?

Passengers on phones have already been shown to be more distracting that just a phone, therefore I believe this would be completely fair.

I am no electronics expert, but Jammers could easily be built into the car chassis and use it as some kind of faraday cage without any signal being transmitted inside the car, more like external signals being prevented from penetrating the car except by external arial. There would obviously have to be provision for calling the emergency services however, which could easily be facilitated via a controller on the external ariel and outside the main car shell. This would also stop any peds being affected by car 'jamming'. (Not that I have thought about this much). To make a call, turn off the engine, or get out of the car. :-)

 

[Arch]

Quite. That's if it even gets anywhere.

It also means disabling the phones of any passengers which isn't fair and potentially unconstitutional.

There are also other technicalities - do such small range cell jammers exist? How do you power them? Would they affect pedestrians passing parked cars or moving traffic? Are there health risks to whatever they are pushing out to jam the signal?

Much as I against mobile use in cars I think this may be a non-starter.

I wonder if it would be possible to jam such a small area that you only jam the driver's seat area?

I guess it's a question of scale. So, you inconvenience some, for the safety of others. Ideally, it could be overridden for 999 calls perhaps.

People used to cope when they couldn't call except from a call box. People will still be able to pull over to let passengers make calls. Presumably the device would only work if the engine was on.

 

[Camgreen]

Interesting stuff. Thought occurs to me though, who would actually pay for its development and installation? Really can't see car manufacturers being overly interested given the present fixation for pushing more and more in-car entertainments/navigational aids and other distractions into their models to get that edge on sales.

If it was government money pushing the initiative, I think there is a good argument for using the money for better policing of transgressors and the punishing accordingly; similar punishments akin to drink driving offences might be a step in the right direction.

 

[Riding in Circles]

It will not get anywhere as it would require federal legislation rather than the current system where the laws are made on a state level, in many states it is perfectly legal to drive while holding a mobile phone to your ear.

 

[Dave Davenport]

It would be a lot easier to just make the penalties for using a phone whilst driving the same as those for drink driving, throw in a bit of detection camera technology; job done.

 

[marzjennings]

It won't happen. The only laws here in Texas that apply to cell phones in cars only apply to school zones. During a conversation yesterday with a mate he tells me to hang on while he puts the phone down for the 20 seconds it takes to pass through a school zone.

 

[BSRU]

I can be done quite easily, the equipment already exists as I work a company that makes something similar that could easily be changed to block mobiles in cars.

 

[jonny jeez]

Wont happen.

We have the tech...but not the balls

 

[jonny jeez]

As a foot note, if this "were" ever done, imgine the impact of the reverse tech being used to *support* public transport with power jacks on busses and signal boosters (or suppilers) on the underground.

still wont happen tho

 

[Spinney]

Quote from the linked article:

Remember one unassailable statistic, as explained by the late, great George Carlin: "Just think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize half of them are even stupider!"