Stopping drivers using phones.

[Flying Dodo]

Of course if most people will be in driverless cars within 20 years like Google and Richard Branson are predicting, that solves the problem. Although possibly those predications are like the ones for fusion power, where they've been saying for over 50 years that we'll have fusion power in 50 years..........

In the meantime, bearing in mind there isn't going to be a massive increase in police resources to deal with the issue, it just needs more people to highlight that it's just not acceptable.

 

[Tin Pot]

Driving is boring. If drivers weren't bored they wouldn't be Twitter while driving.

I suggest Gamification.

A HUD that highlights points scoring opportunities, rewarding good behaviour. Linked to Facebook so everyone gets a never ending update of how good/bad your driving is.

Points for stopping at red lights, being in the slow lane, passing wide enough, maintaining speed through speed camera zones etc.

Points deducted for sudden braking (indication of miscalculated driving), and contiguous time in the middle lane.

The usual awards and trophies etc.

 

[swansonj]

"1. Keep you phone turned on.
This might not be as obvious as one would think. Very often people who call the Emergency Services will turn their phone off to save battery power. This is possibly the worst thing you can do; even with a low battery you may still have several hours on standby.

Turning off your phone not only prevents the Emergency Services from contacting you, should they need to, but it also means your phone cannot be 'found' if you need to be located. And while we are talking about locating someone via their mobile phone...

Contrary to what Hollywood would have you believe, tracing and locating a Mobile Phone which has called the Emergency Services is not done routinely and nor is it instantaneous; just because you have called the Emergency Services does not mean they have your exact location. Most Emergency Service telephone exchanges have upgraded to a system known as EISEC - Enhanced Information Service for Emergency Calls which means all calls made on a Mobile Phone automatically provide the ES operator with your telephone number and your service provider. With this information, the phone can be triangulated between its nearest Masts and the 'cell' from which you are calling can be identified. However, there are less Masts in rural and remote areas meaning your location may be with a margin of several hundred meters accuracy. This process of locating a caller can only be requested by the Police where there is sufficient need such as a Missing Person."

http://www.realfirstaid.co.uk/mobile-phone/

Piece in bold can actually be turned off, on every handset.


It adds to the problem of a response time when the service insists that paper maps no longer be carried and crews rely on SatNav systems, often phone based, which doesn't send them by the shortest/most direct route. Ambulances are only one of the Emergency services to rely on the above. And it doesn't make much difference when the call is from a landline either these days.
I have two major SatNav rat runs near me. One adds an extra two miles, the other up to five miles(Nearly three times the distance to be travelled). To get from the same point, to the same point, shortest direct route is 3 miles for two of the three Emergency Services. And if the response crews are not local, well you trust in the SatNav.

I know where the mast, that I'm connected to at present is. Some 21/2 miles, in a straight line, away. I used to work just down the road from it. I also know that the longer route taken is due to two masts being closer, and a phone based GPS system in use. The irony is one of them is located on a fire station, 3/8 mile in a straight line. The other is 700 yards away, again in a straight line. And in line of sight.

Paging @Drago to explain the Sarloc system increasingly used by Mountain Rescue to locate a caller by accessing their phone's GPS via text. When it works it allows pinpoint accuracy and saves hours of searching time.

 

[Drago]

I'm with an ALSAR Lowland Rescue group and we don't use it so can't shed much light im afraid. We cross train regularly with Scarbourough and Rydale Mountain Rescue so I have seen it, but know little about it.

Certainly if you're walking somewhere away from civilisation the mobile phone companies can ping the phones on behalf of the police, with varying degrees of accuracy depending on the method used.

 

[raleighnut]

I'm sure that it must be possible to develop in-car technology to detect drivers breaking the law - using a mobile, not indicating, jumping red lights, speeding, etc. I would make the technology mandatory in new cars - it would soon hit the second-hand market. I would also encourage it to be fitted to existing cars through a discount on insurance - in the same way that young drivers have tracker things fitted.

The technology would work as follows:

During a journey it would count the number of infringements and remember it.
The next time anyone went to use the car it would be disabled for 15 minutes for each infringement.

I reckon if a driver went out, jumped in the car and found it wouldn't start for 15 minutes, he/she would think twice the next time he was going to break the law.

Points & fines don't act as a deterrent. Hit people where it hurts - the convenience of using their car. Since many journeys are less than 15 minutes anyway it would be a real pain to have to wait just to nip to the shops or pick the kids up from school.

The way I see some people 'drive' (I use the term loosely) their cars they'd have to wait about 3 weeks for the car to start with that technology.

 

[Drago]

I just can't get my head round the problem. I find the mobile phone annoying, intrusive, and liable to demand my attention at the most inconvenient times. Unless I'm on call for SAR mine only gets switched on when I want to make a call on it. The way these sad little people can't stop using their phones in their cars, or walking up the street staring down at it is indicative of a growing legion of weak willed saddos with poor self control.

 

[annedonnelly]

The way I see some people 'drive' (I use the term loosely) their cars they'd have to wait about 3 weeks for the car to start with that technology.

All the better - keep them off the roads out of our way