Calls For A Ban On Hands Free Car Phones

[TheDecameron]

I was behind someone who was driving inattentively yesterday on the motorway and when I passed him I could see he spent 50% of the time fully facing his passenger while conversing with her, in fact his body was swung round in the seat toward her. On this evidence, passengers should be banned from vehicles too.

 

[GTM]

I say go by the evidence, and the evidence all points to the fact that talking on a phone is more distracting than talking to someone in person. This has been known for a long time even outside their use in cars. The nature of the voice being listened to via a speaker requires our brains to concentrate harder on the voice than a live voice because of the loss of a lot of auditory clues.

Humans are capable of multitasking. So even if driving in a city it's perfectly possible for us to do so safely whilst conversing with passengers or listening to music or the radio etc. As long as we remain consciously focused on driving as our primary objective. The problem is many people see the car as a "second nature" activity and give their primary focus to the conversation or passengers rather than the driving, which is when it becomes a safety issue.

There is technology that tracks eye movement and can tell where someone is looking. Maybe the way forward is to implement it as standard in all cars and pass out automatic fines/points etc if your eyes aren't focused out the windscreen or side windows for a given percentage of time whilst on the move.

To be honest, I would implement technology to just make phones not work in cars full stop. I don't believe people need to be contactable for the time they are in a car. Millions of people manage without being contactable whilst on the London Underground every day, what's the difference? We all managed to survive with periods of being incommunicado in the past we can survive now in the same way. The 24/7 connected way of life leads to higher stress levels and all the health issues that creates.

 

[richardg]

I say go by the evidence, and the evidence all points to the fact that talking on a phone is more distracting than talking to someone in person.

Do you have children?

 

[Martin D]

Mind you, that was an American piece of crap made of plastic

 

[Steven Toy]

message to nanny - F*ck off!

Amended for clarity.

If Brake had their way we would not be allowed to leave the house and we wouldn't be able to cook anything because all the kitchen knives would be blunt and made of plastic.

 

[Daniel Quinn]

On a point of pedantry , sharp knives are not a prerequisite to cooking .

 

[Steven Toy]

I say go by the evidence, and the evidence all points to the fact that talking on a phone is more distracting than talking to someone in person. This has been known for a long time even outside their use in cars. The nature of the voice being listened to via a speaker requires our brains to concentrate harder on the voice than a live voice because of the loss of a lot of auditory clues.

Humans are capable of multitasking. So even if driving in a city it's perfectly possible for us to do so safely whilst conversing with passengers or listening to music or the radio etc. As long as we remain consciously focused on driving as our primary objective. The problem is many people see the car as a "second nature" activity and give their primary focus to the conversation or passengers rather than the driving, which is when it becomes a safety issue.

There is technology that tracks eye movement and can tell where someone is looking. Maybe the way forward is to implement it as standard in all cars and pass out automatic fines/points etc if your eyes aren't focused out the windscreen or side windows for a given percentage of time whilst on the move.

To be honest, I would implement technology to just make phones not work in cars full stop. I don't believe people need to be contactable for the time they are in a car. Millions of people manage without being contactable whilst on the London Underground every day, what's the difference? We all managed to survive with periods of being incommunicado in the past we can survive now in the same way. The 24/7 connected way of life leads to higher stress levels and all the health issues that creates.

I hope you are not serious. I think your balance between freedom and security needs to be reconsidered.

I do a job where communication and driving have to occur simultaneously and the mobile handset on a dashboard mount connected to the car's Bluetooth system does the lot - navigation (where required), accepting bookings via PDA app, voice calls and internet/texting but only when parked.

"Second nature activity" drivers are obvious. They are the ones "driving" at 37 mph in a 60. I refer to them as passengers at the wheel. If you drive slow enough you can completely detach yourself from the process, or so they think.

Driving itself remains the primary focus and is never relegated to "second nature" activity. Primary focus is in the mind not the eyes as the latter can update the former in a split second. Fortunately technology is not yet available to regulate mind focus but if it was I am sure you would want to implement it . Btw, would blinking be permitted? The eyes tend to hurt a bit if you don't do it for a while and staring through the windscreen out of fear of the automated eye police won't inform you of what may lie ahead, behind, alongside you or just in your peripheral vision.

I also talk to my passengers if they want me to and have learnt to do this without making eye contact. I have to remember when I am not driving to make eye contact again when talking to people.

 

[Steven Toy]

On a point of pedantry , sharp knives are not a prerequisite to cooking .

Blunt knives are pretty useless.