mjr wrote:Psamathe wrote:Even introducing minor software changes in phones such that they will only operate handsfree if moving above e.g. 20 mph without a Wi-Fi signal (and will silent any mail/tweet/Facebook/etc notifications) would meet unbelievable resistance as it would also impact e.g. passengers (I would say "so what - buy a hands free kit" but that would not be accepted against the very vocal objections).
Well, yes, as some people would want it overbroad like the above. What's the problem with message notifications? Are they really any more distracting than the traffic alerts on the car stereo?
And what's with the "without a Wi-Fi signal" exclusion? Won't people just use mobile hotspots then? (What some brand called Mi-Fi IIRC)
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Just thinking aloud. message notifications silenced as they would prompt the driver to pick-up their phone to e.g. see the baby photo a friend has just Tweeted - basically a prompt that your phone needs you to look at it.
The "without Wi-Fi signal" is a thought to make it less likely that the e.g. above 20mph would block non-car use. You would not normally get a WiFi signal in you car but, if moving above 20 mph on e.g. a train you often would have Wi-Fi signal (even if you were not associated with the connection). so the Wi-Fi signal would override the "above 20 mph" lock to allow use on e.g. trains. I'm sure the "in your car" rules need to be improved on my suggestion and I agree that some higher end cars have in-car internet available - but they also probably have hands free through their car radios which would lower the probability of people holding their phones.
The difficulty as I see it is that getting the full technical scheme to prevent people from breaking the law would never get through Government and even if it eventually did it would be out of date before it actually got implemented in any significant %age of vehicles. So in practice we need cruder, less adequate but implementable alternatives.
Just thoughts (far from perfect but to lower the occasions where phone locked unnecessarily).
mjr wrote:Disclosure: I have my phone set to read out message and missed call notifications while I'm driving. I then either act on the information (changed appointment location or whatever), pull over and stop in a safe place to return an urgent message, or wait until my next scheduled stop and deal with it then. I don't need to look at or touch my phone while driving to do this. I don't think hands-free calling while driving is safe enough, either - as others have suggested, the law is lagging behind current research evidence on that.
Valid point - they allow phones to read out such messages and block just the "beep beep" noise that prompts people to pick-up their phone. Or allow the beep and block the screen display/touch input so driver has to stop before picking-up the phone.
mjr wrote:I also feel that satnavs and dashcams should have to have detailed controls where they cannot be reached from the normal driving position, too. Maybe OK and cancel buttons on the wheel or similar, like how car stereos often have a "dismiss traffic alert" button on the wheel (handy for those times atmospheric skip and/or strange transmitter service areas brings you someone waffling about roads 150 miles away which you really don't need to hear), but entering new addresses and stuff should be made impossible while driving.
I would agree. Maybe a set of strict rules and where a manufacturer wants to depart from those rules they can make their case as to why their proposals are safe, submit to authorities who will approve or reject those alternatives (maybe with the constraint that anything approved cannot be patented so other manufacturers can also use similar techniques ...). Just thinking aloud here.
Edited: A couple of edits to respond to mjr's other comments.
Ian