Anti txting device

[tazzieman]

Good move. 

http://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/motoring/nissans-extreme-move-to-stamp-out-smartphone-distractions-for-drivers/news-story/8ef25d57f1432782939d40273369d2c8

And it probably won't shrink your gonads.

[Coastr]

I've always thought something like this is needed.  Car info systems can also read out texts, answer calls with handsfree - so locking the phone away is a good move.

 

the next step is to disable the ignition unless the phone is locked away.

[LeeM]

Or just turn the volume off

[MARTY]

That's a great idea the amount of idiots that i see on the roads texting is scary,people need educating over here that texting whilst driving is dumb.

[Raven]

I've always thought something like this is needed.  Car info systems can also read out texts, answer calls with handsfree - so locking the phone away is a good move.

 

the next step is to disable the ignition unless the phone is locked away.

Yes my wifes car does this you don,t have to touch the phone once you are in the car and turn the ignition on ,,,every thing is either voice control activated or activated on the cars touch screen ,,Texts are read to her by Siri at a voice command through the cars Audio system and you reply and send all by voice too,,,pretty cool gadget ,,,,,,she just leaves the phone in her handbag and it all works it techno magic 

[tazzieman]

No doubt txting etc a big problem with the younger crowd , who tend to drive cars without touchscreens, and tend to txtalot...

[Spectre]

Dunno, I'd rather all phones were disabled once the car was in motion.

Just am radio, stuck with John Faine,  that'll make you concentrate on the road

[Stew F]

That's a great idea the amount of idiots that i see on the roads texting is scary,people need educating over here that texting whilst driving is dumb.

Some people just can't change.  

Dunno, I'd rather all phones were disabled once the car was in motion.

Just am radio, stuck with John Faine,  that'll make you concentrate on the road 

Or James Last if you're in your Porsche. 

[Coastr]

That's a great idea the amount of idiots that i see on the roads texting is scary,people need educating over here that texting whilst driving is dumb.

I know how stupid it is...yet I  occasionally guilty of looking at it.  All sorts of notifications and messages come through which are work related, hard to ignore that stuff.  Willpower is not sufficient for most people, a hardware solution is required.

[9r]

Dunno, I'd rather all phones were disabled once the car was in motion.

 

Agree

Haven't they found that hands free is pretty much as bad as having the phone in your hands as your concentrating on the call not the road.

Cant hear the phone in my car anyway so no distraction there... whoever called can wait till I stop

[DJM]

^^ I've never understood this, how is talking on a phone hands free any different/more dangerous than talking to a passenger sitting beside you?  What next, gaffa tape your mouth shut?

absolutely agree using the phone to text or google or whatever while driving is madness but I use the drive to and from work to catch up on voice messages and calls hands free

[firstone]

Txting is far greater risk than talking because they try to hide the fact by having the phone low so the head has to move not just the eyes.

Look away for 3 seconds at 60 klmph you travel 48m or an Olympic pool length. 

No insurance or greenslip cover if proven. Let alone your life or someone else's.

 

[Philbee]

At the risk of being labeled a demonic mutant and having a riot breakout with a citizen arrest following, I'm not keen and into this phone hype. I've done plenty of things in my car while driving and I simply adjust to my environment as a driver should. If doing 80 in a single lane, phone not good. If stuck in traffic jam, not moving, ....  I change Radio stations, talk to a passenger, ok. And when not safe, I don't do these things either. I find talking distracting and I stop doing it when it becomes unsafe for me.

 

[Redracn]

Probably should be a vent. Drivers who insist on looking at their passengers while talking to them?  Seems to me to be every bit as dangerous as texting. Also two way radios are perfectly legal to use (in VIC at least) could it be that holding a device up to your ear/mouth and talking is not as bad as they say and that the actual problem is removing your eyes from the road. In the end we are sharing the road with drivers of vastly varying levels of cognitive ability and consciousness as well as impairment by any number of legal and illegal drugs. 

[tazzieman]

Just am radio, stuck with John Faine,  that'll make you concentrate on the road

Radio? You have a radio! Lucky bugger!

My old last century Landy , blah blah...

[LeeM]

  I discussed that 2 way radio thing with a cop a while ago, and he couldn't answer the reasoning behind allowing them to be legal but not phones, as you're doing the same thing by talking. I also heard an interview with SA' s top cop on the radio, and he said 'You can touch/swipe your phone to answer a call if it is in an approved phone cradle, but not hold the phone in your hand', yet cop I spoke to said you can't touch the phone at all,  so who is right? Bloke here got busted for touching his earpiece Bluetooth device, yet took it to court and won, yet still cost him court fee's.

 Simple answer for me is to leave it in the cradle and don't touch it

[tazzieman]

In my '67 Benz I have an old landline phone; it's a joke,  or perhaps interim until I track down a cheap real carphone from the 60s.

Sometimes , when feeling mischievous (which is often) I hold the handpiece to my ear e.g. at the lights. Usually when I'm with family. So far I haven't been caught & charged.

I have received a few odd looks however. Priceless!

[Coastr]

For whatever reason the cognitive load of even hands free is higher than talking to passengers.  It's been tested pretty well.

the difference with cb radio and phone is the length / type of conversation, plus the simplicity of the interface.  You can't use a phone without looking at it, and it's virtually never mounted in a convenient spot (high on the dash, like a radio).  Professional drivers often have them mounted high but most people have them on the console.  Ironically this is     to hide the phone to not get caught using it.

Basically radios and cb radios don't have 10pt font messages to read and you generally don't close deals or organise divorce proceedings on them, which is why they are less of an issue.

I am concerned about this as one day my kids will be driving and they are of a generation where phones are the centre of life.

[9r]

For whatever reason the cognitive load of even hands free is higher than talking to passengers.  It's been tested pretty well.

I am concerned about this as one day my kids will be driving and they are of a generation where phones are the centre of life.

Totally agree with the above, 

the issue is that the person on the other end of the phone does not have any situational awareness of the driver, unlike someone who is in the car. That critical part of the conversation where the drivers concentration is distracted from the road might just be where and when it is most needed.  Someone in the car has this awareness and knows when maybe to stop taking or what to talk about.

Given the marginal driving skills of a majority of drivers this can be the difference between a safe journey home and an accident

[Coastr]

I also theorise that - because a phone conversation has no visual/body language feedback you concentrate automatically on the voice more as you have to listen harder to pick up small verbal cues to replace non verbal cues.  

I notice this a lot on video conferencing - even if the image is two dimensional and low res it is easier to read the other person - because you can pick up on leaning back, hands behind head, things like that.

Would be interesting to study if a HUD video call hands free would make it easier to concentrate than just voice hands free, even if the little projected video was 'distracting'.  The person on the other end would also see when the driver is looking at blind spots, stopped at lights etc.

[sandy468]

I'm on the fence - I detest any type of nanny device or nanny interference  BUT  a 20yo girl I pulled out of a car today may be $10000 better off if she had one, and if her car was an 80's little hatchback instead of a 2010 it might've saved her life. 

Tracking 50 metres behind her doing 70ks I see a traytruck pull out of a street on the left almost with enough time to clearly execute it, and I watch for about 100 metres waiting for her to slow down but nope, bang straight into the back quarter of the tray after brakelights on and a slight veer to the left about 6 or 7 metres from impact ... and then into a pole on the dirt shoulder. Amazingly uninjured thanks to airbags (and maybe her own airbags hehehe) and uninsured - and she said she didn't see the truck - yes she was texting. I could see the truck clearly move out from about 150 metres and summed up his speed vs her speed in a second, and she had better start slowing to miss him. I reckon I already had my indicator and brakes on to pull over before she even hit him. One of these texting cages might easily have saved someone's life ....

[Coastr]

I'm with you on the nanny state thing but this is not 5kmh over here, this is people driving along with all their focus on a 3 inch screen.  As you saw.

cars have more active and passive safety systems than ever, yet the annual road toll is rising quickly for the first time in 40 years.  It's way past time for more than the current setup.   It's pretty stupid when ancap ratings are down to whether or not your knee might get injured by your keys but not whether the driver can take their eyes off the road for thirty seconds.