Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Texting and Cell Phones while driving...


So I experience first hand on a daily basis what a danger this is. However, I have an advantage or a disadvantage depending how you see it. I ride a motorcycle to work and constantly see people make bad decisions while driving. The reason I say riding a bike is an advantage is I am infinitely more agile than a car. Sure, there is less protection but so far (knock on wood) I have been able to maneuver around any situation. I saw this video (http://www.break.com/index/bus-driver-crashes-while-texting.html) the other day and it convinced me to write about this. I personally believe any cell phone use should be banned while the car is moving. This is easily enforceable, not by law but by technology. Here are 2 proposals, both cost money but are not requiring legislation... 1. Utilize the GPS feature in phones to detect movement over a certain speed and once that speed is attained kill the call making ability. Easy code to write and easy to implement. There really isn't much downfall to this as you won't be driving as slow as a human can walk. You could implement this immediately and fairly easily. 2. Utilize government technology implemeneted in new automobiles... I am talking about cell phone blockers. They have had this technology for a while and it is a mini-jamming station that has a defined radius of impact. You could force car makers to install this in each car just like a seatbelt. Except this "seatbelt" is one for everyone outside the car you are driving. So how this works is anytime the car is out of "Park" this jammer begins broadccasting it's signal and prevents calls until the car is in park again. Signal strength determines how far it is affective so at worst you can't use your phone within 3-4 feet of a moving vehicle... Again, well worth it in my mind. Anyway, think about the lives that would be saved everyday just by using this technology. If the government is going to hand out our money to anyone asking why not put it towards something like this?

1 comment:

  1. I'm against both proposals as neither can be done without an unfunded government mandate. The cost of phones and cars will be increased, and will there be a retro fitting for old cars. NO government.

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