iMore » driving

U.S. Department of Transportation refuses to accept NTSB ban on smartphones in cars

Andrew Wray — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 01:34:18 +0000

The U.S. Department of Transportation has refused to work with the National Transportation Safety Board’s proposal to ban the use of the iPhone and other smartphones in cars.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said he won’t back a proposal to prohibit drivers from talking on cellphones, even hands-free devices, giving a boost to car makers and mobile-phone companies that stand to lose if regulators impose a ban.

According to our cross-site Mobile Nations network poll, the majority of TiPb, Android Central, and CrackBerry.com readers say there needed to be a middle ground on the issue. Given that most smartphones have the ability to run software designed to support driving tasks, like turn-by-turn navigation, this makes a lot of sense. Still, preventing drivers from performing distracting tasks like sending SMS messages or playing Angry Birds remains an issue.

Source: WSJ

NTSB calls for state ban on iPhones and other smartphones in cars

Rene Ritchie — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 20:35:29 +0000

The National Transportation Safety Board [NTSB] has recommended that the American states prohibit any and all non-emergency use of smartphones in automobiles. That’s right, they want you to keep your hands and eyes off your iPhone and on the wheel and road. While that might make some superficial sense, it also ignores how multifaceted modern smartphones truly are — for example, running a GPS turn-by-turn sat nav app, or playing music, the same functionality built into a lot of modern vehicles.

The safety recommendation specifically calls for the 50 states and the District of Columbia to ban the nonemergency use of portable electronic devices (other than those designed to support the driving task) for all drivers. The safety recommendation also urges use of the NHTSA model of high-visibility enforcement to support these bans and implementation of targeted communication campaigns to inform motorists of the new law and heightened enforcement.

The trouble is, smartphones can run software designed to support driving tasks, but they can also run highly distracting software like SMS/IM or Angry Birds.

And, of course, it does nothing to deal with other driver distractions like food, makeup, reading papers while driving, etc. etc. (Sadly it’s very touch to draft a “don’t be dumb and drive law”, so they fall for easy-to-identify blanket bans.)

We’re co-opting our sibling site, Android Central‘s poll on this one, so add your vote above and sound off on what you think below!

Source: NTSB via AP via Android Central

Poll: Would You Give Up Using Your iPhone in the Car for Increased Safety?

Rene Ritchie — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 02:06:56 +0000

Our sibling site, TreoCentral.com, reminds us about the NY Times report that even hands-free cell phone (including iPhone) use while driving radically increases the risk of accidents:

Studies say that drivers using phones are four times as likely to cause a crash as other drivers, and the likelihood that they will crash is equal to that of someone with a .08 percent blood alcohol level, the point at which drivers are generally considered intoxicated. Research also shows that hands-free devices do not eliminate the risks, and may worsen them by suggesting that the behavior is safe.

Some states have passed laws requiring hands-free phone use (it’s required where I live), some are no passing no-texting-and-driving laws, and some are trying to see if they can ban mobile use entirely.

Driving while talking on the phone is singled out, of course, though we’d suspect driving while following a map, eating, tuning the radio, checking out the scenery, even talking to another passenger (though arguably they have additional eyes on the road to mitigate) are all distracting to one degree or another.

TiPb’s curious what you think about talking on the phone while driving, and what, if anything, you think should be done about it?