[joefalco]

Some of you may have read about this, but I just heard of it this morning. A plug in device and associated app that stops incoming and outgoing texts, etc, while the car is moving.

CNET Article

CellControl website

I can see this item becoming popular with parents and corporate fleet owners alike. What do you think? Useful or intrusion?

Joe

[RickyRoss10]

Intrusion.

[KillYouWithMyMind]

Agreed, intrusion. I can see the benefits for parents but this is not going to stop the text/phone related accidents.

[Tiassa]

Here's my question, how does it know to only block the driver's cell? The only way I can see that working is if you pair the "driver's" phone to the cell control (I suppose it could grab the "nearest" phone, but that is fraught with all kinds of issues). What if the usual driver of the car is a passenger? What about cars with multiple drivers?

This is a classic example of using technology to solve a social problem that is best solved by social means.

[danimal1968]

Here's my question, how does it know to only block the driver's cell? The only way I can see that working is if you pair the "driver's" phone to the cell control (I suppose it could grab the "nearest" phone, but that is fraught with all kinds of issues). What if the usual driver of the car is a passenger? What about cars with multiple drivers?

This is a classic example of using technology to solve a social problem that is best solved by social means.

It pairs with the phone via bluetooth. Presumably it won't pair with any other phone unless that phone's owner grants it permission. Not fraught with anything.

[danimal1968]

Intrusion.

How is it intrusion if you put one of these devices on your phone?

Studies show that texting while driving is more dangerous than driving drunk, yet nobody says that anti-DUI laws are intrusive.

[Tiassa]

It pairs with the phone via bluetooth. Presumably it won't pair with any other phone unless that phone's owner grants it permission. Not fraught with anything.

That's what I figured, but it still is a half-baked solution (at best). I suppose that a parent could hook it to a child's car/phone, but but still that is a (half baked) technological solution to a social problem. In a parent's case s/he could check the child's phone logs and take either the car or the phone away if the kid is DWTing. Much more effective, imho.

[kjjb0204]

Seriously, the driver can just disable bluetooth to override this app. This device will only be useful on BES with an IT policy enforcement to keep bluetooth on.

[NoahFecks]

Something really needs to be done to keep people from using their phones in the car. There is absolutely no need for people to use a phone while driving, it's just plain ignorant. People survived for decades before there were portable phones, but now narcissism runs rampant and everyone thinks they're so important that they MUST be in contact with everyone at any time.

Laws don't work, as here in CT the law states you MUST use a headset with a phone in a car, yet I see countless morons with the phone up to their ears. I got into an accident a couple years ago, a kid rammed into the side of my car because he was talking on the phone not paying attention, so I know first hand how dangerous a phone in a car can be. Luckily it was a low speed accident in a parking lot, but unfortunately the kid couldn't get fined for being on the phone because it happened on private property.

Quite simply, phones in cars are just as bad as DUI or DWI and should be treated as such. Same laws and consequences that apply to DUI/DWI should be applied to people using a phone while driving, plain and simple.

[avt123]

Quite simply, phones in cars are just as bad as DUI or DWI and should be treated as such. Same laws and consequences that apply to DUI/DWI should be applied to people using a phone while driving, plain and simple.

I don't know if I would put them in the same category. I would definitely rather see someone who at least has full consciousness talking on the phone, than a drunk driver who is swerving and can't even remember their name and where they are going.

I do agree though, driving while talking on the cellphone is VERY dangerous, and hopefully better ways are implemented to prevent this.

[jlb21]

Couldn't one just disconnect the device???

[NoahFecks]

I don't know if I would put them in the same category. I would definitely rather see someone who at least has full consciousness talking on the phone, than a drunk driver who is swerving and can't even remember their name and where they are going.

But a person on a phone or texting could certainly pose as much of a threat as a drunk driver, as they're not paying any attention to driving.

[amazinglygraceless]

It is truly a shame that there needs to be an app for people who
lack common sense.

@Noah, as a firefighter/EMT here in CT I know precisely what you mean
and it infuriates me to no end.

[kjjb0204]

I agree that texting and typing are very dangerous while driving. That's why I rely heavily on vlingo. I will add this - that talking on the phone is not even close to drunk driving. Truckers talk on their cb's all day long, police and rescue talk all the time. They have for decades.

[amazinglygraceless]

I agree that texting and typing are very dangerous while driving. That's why I rely heavily on vlingo. I will add this - that talking on the phone is not even close to drunk driving. Truckers talk on their cb's all day long, police and rescue talk all the time. They have for decades.

1) Vlingo is not the answer. It takes more time to do ANYTHING with Vlingo
than without it.

2) I can only address the FF/Rescue part of this. On any rig in my department
the driver drives. The officer or whoever is sitting in the seat at the right uses
the radio. Why? Because we know how unsafe it is for the driver to be going code
3 to a call and trying to have a conversation with dispatch or another unit.
Even when it is not code 3 the driver NEVER uses the radio unless the
apparatus is on scene and motionless.

[kjjb0204]

Vlingo works very well for me. Very few corrections needed, if ever.

Police and truckers are alone more often than not....

[KillYouWithMyMind]

No app is going to stop people from using the phone while driving. In fact, nothing will stop people from doing it.

Driving is not a safe activity. Period. All this talking/texting while driving crap is just people not taking seriously an everyday activity that can easily kill you or others. Just respect your vehicle and the act of driving and keep your fingers crossed that other people around you will too.

EDIT: Post 300! Woo!

[Denise in Los Angeles]

Couldn't one just disconnect the device???

Of course... but in all reality, the people who talk on cells while driving wouldn't even get this app.

So, it is a FAIL?

[LGillyBR]

The software doesn't allow the Bluetooth to be turned off.
Emergency calls are always allowed.
There are safeguards in the application that warn the parent or employer if the user tries to circumvent the software or hardware.

[SlydWyz]

This has got to be the stupidest thing I have ever heard of when it comes to technology! If YOU, the driver, lack the common sense to know how to operate a moving vehicle correctly (and there are countless people whom we all know shouldn't drive to begin with), then pull over, remove your personal belongings, and kindly drop you keys down the sewer grate!

Even if it were to become a government mandate that every new vehicle sold, and every vehicle currently on the road was to be "upgraded" to have some type of hardware installed that ONLY allowed emergency calls to go through, there would be a line of idiots looking for some "hack" to disable that just so they can say that "big brother" doesn't own them.

Have we really come that far (and I dare not use the word PROGRESS) that people actually believe their conversations about the latest movie they saw, or how much the dry cleaner might be ripping them off is more important than the lives of the other people around them?

STUPIDITY, is there an app for that??

*gets off the soapbox* Sorry, this just sets off a nerve, every time.