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Distracted Driving Laws Yet to Catch Up With Apple Watch
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What are you eating? Hot Wings from Duff's? Or a Ted's Chili Dog?
A true Buffalo fan - you understand Duff's is better than Anchor Bar.
Yes, hot wings with a crazy amount of napkins and a 2 liter of loganberry is difficult while driving.
The cup holder is really made for bleu cheese, right?
You sound like the type that thinks three drinks makes them a better driver.
As a motorcyclist I see more distracted drivers every day than most of you cagers, and I can tell you, more laws are useless without enforcement.
I see 4-6 "laneweavers" every morning, and have yet to see one pulled over. Ever. How about enforcing the laws we have rather than adding more?
Just please don't ban my GPS or I won't be able to navigate my way out of my town again. My sense of direction and ability to remember routes is pathetic. And I don't want to have to pull over to consult a map for every turn, either.
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whoa!
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whoa!
I don't know, I find the Watch much less distracting while driving that my in-car navigation or phone or dedicated GPS device. With the Watch, I never have to take my eyes off the road, I just feel the gentle taps when it's time to turn left or different taps when it's time to turn right. Not sure what all the fuss is about.
Ridiculousness of driver distraction laws.
There shouldn't be any laws specific to phones or watches or anything else.
Yelling at your kids in the backseat is distracting as is fiddling with the radio, or CD player, or temperature controls, or A/C, eating a sandwich, or candy bar, or eating chips, talking to your spouse, etc are driver distractions. It's absurd to create laws to carve out specific "products" to make illegal.
"Arbitrary and capricious" are the appropriate words for these special laws against electronic distractions.
There shouldn't be any laws specific to phones or watches or anything else.
Yelling at your kids in the backseat is distracting as is fiddling with the radio, or CD player, or temperature controls, or A/C, eating a sandwich, or candy bar, or eating chips, talking to your spouse, etc are driver distractions. It's absurd to create laws to carve out specific "products" to make illegal.
"Arbitrary and capricious" are the appropriate words for these special laws against electronic distractions.
I think you're missing the point of creating laws for the tech gadgets. It's hardly the same as yelling at your kids or eating food. With texting and talking, people get way too engrossed in their conversation and totally zone out of driving which creates many accidents and constant swerving. I see it daily at supermarkets. People are on their phone in a deep (generally sounding wasteful) conversation while the checker is taking their money. They are so involved in their conversation that they wouldn't even know if the checker cheated them when paying back their change. They don't even have the smarts to hang up the phone or tell the person on the phone to hang on while they pay for their goods. Absolutely absurd behavior.
it depends how you look at it, the touchscreen in our porsche only controls items like music and navigation. AC, airflow, temperature and vents are still tactile knobs. There is audio controls on the steering wheel and the maps appear next to the speedometer as well. The new Audi we have is newer but has a centeral turning knob that navigates the screen and no touch screen except a touchpad where you can hand write letters during a map search. The cars are more items and technology now that can distract you but at the same time, the car also calculates possible impacts from the front and the back which then overrides the driver and slams on the brakes you take your eyes off the road just as someone pulls in front of you or slams on their brakes while you've turned to mind a crying child.
I have heard the same things, but it doubt the validity of these studies for a few reasons:
1. What empirical evidence is there for determining whether some was distracted by a phone conversation when they were driving at the time of the accident?
2. why is it acceptable to be distracted, even if it isn't to the extent of using a phone while driving, by someone in the car next to you?
3. (This may sound obtuse, but please play along...). What if it was determined that playing Huey Lewis and the News' songs backwards made accidents reduced by 60%, should everyone be forced to buy and listen to them while driving?
Note to the public, the Apple Watch is not the first smart watch released
Why is this now an issue, Pebble, LG, Sony, Martian and others have had their products released and in the wild for years.
It's a issue because it seems when Apple releases a device in a relatively new category, it finally "arrives" and becomes mainstream as far as the majority of consumers, media and government is concerned.
A true Buffalo fan - you understand Duff's is better than Anchor Bar.
Yes, hot wings with a crazy amount of napkins and a 2 liter of loganberry is difficult while driving.
The cup holder is really made for bleu cheese, right?
Man, I'm going to have trouble sleeping tonight after this thread. Hopefully I won't have visions of an Anderson's Lemon Ice !!!!!
So people weren't distracted while driving in 1980? Were carphones distracting in 1990?
Heck sometimes I drive to work and don't even realize I'm there because I've been so distracted thinking about what I had to do that day that I drove 30 minutes like a zombie.
The most distracting thing in my car is not my iPhone, its the touch screen climate/radio crap that I have to look at to use. "Oh well use the voice activation" Uh, the voice activation in my car system averages about 10% accuracy. The Ford Sync system in particular is abysmal.
I've been wearing my watch for two weeks now, I find it way less distracting than glancing at my phone. And yes, I occasionally look at my phone while driving. I am sure I will get harassed for this.
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I can't wait for the self driving cars that let us all drive at or below the speed limits. That will be so awesome.
Heck sometimes I drive to work and don't even realize I'm there because I've been so distracted thinking about what I had to do that day that I drove 30 minutes like a zombie.
The most distracting thing in my car is not my iPhone, its the touch screen climate/radio crap that I have to look at to use. "Oh well use the voice activation" Uh, the voice activation in my car system averages about 10% accuracy. The Ford Sync system in particular is abysmal.
I've been wearing my watch for two weeks now, I find it way less distracting than glancing at my phone. And yes, I occasionally look at my phone while driving. I am sure I will get harassed for this.
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I can't wait for the self driving cars that let us all drive at or below the speed limits. That will be so awesome.
Funny how it's a really good idea to drive the vehicle when driving the vehicle. Other activities may lead to unexpected results, i.e. eating, reading, applying makeup, shaving, having sex, doing drugs, disciplining children, and doing the specified electronic device things...
If only the car could drive itself, I wish my car would go to work for me and do my job.. Keeping up with whatever flame war/cat antic/stalker activity/text giggle/lolz blort doesn't count when your propelling a virtual bullet, wielding our second favorite weapon in public. Get some sense, buy a clue, stop the madness and either wait or pull the %@*& over, capish?
If only the car could drive itself, I wish my car would go to work for me and do my job.. Keeping up with whatever flame war/cat antic/stalker activity/text giggle/lolz blort doesn't count when your propelling a virtual bullet, wielding our second favorite weapon in public. Get some sense, buy a clue, stop the madness and either wait or pull the %@*& over, capish?
Lets not forget as a long haul driver, I can pull out my map and read it, plan my fueling, or grab a snack all while driving from the comfort of my home on wheels.
Tuning the radio and adjusting the climate has always been a distraction. Long before texting was even a thing. Fortunately for most drivers in the 80s and earlier, adjusting the climate controls and tuning the radio was something you only did occasionally. The difference with texting is that many drivers can't seem to go five minutes without checking their email, and if a text arrives they are unable to stop themselves from replying immediately.
I know some drivers who are using their phone 75% of the time or more when they are behind the wheel. If there is no text or email to reply to, they access Facebook. If there's nothing new on Facebook, they play Candy Crush.
Tuning the radio is a distraction while you're doing it, which is less than 1% of the time you are driving. Accessing a smart phone, when you're doing it the majority of the time, is a bigger threat.
"Catch Up With Apple Watch" Huh?
Newsflash: Smart watches have been around for a few years now....
Newsflash: Smart watches have been around for a few years now....
Someone makes a comment about not addressing every country on every article now. It's ridiculous, people just want to be butt hurt just to be butt hurt.
1. See the studies to which you referred... their methodology will be documented and you can evaluate them on a case by case basis.
2. I'll grant that most driving is done on a sort of semi-subconscious autopilot, which means you can sing along to the radio or talk to the person next to you, etc -- but your background focus is constantly on the road, and if anything comes up it immediately takes your attention back. Trying to read tiny text on your watch is a huge difference because you have to disengage even your autopilot as you shift your entire focus and change your attention to reading. If something comes up then you will most likely not process it at all.
3. I don't think that scenario has anything to do with this. It is not about decreasing accidents per say, it is about controlling the introduction of a new agent which is known to increase accidents.
Because not defining the thing that is illegal makes any kind of behaviour open for interpretation and, inevitably, abuse.
I'd love if the iPhone and Apple Watch could detect you are driving and switch the display off. I'm freaking sick of seeing people who think that their phone call/text is so important that they need to risk other people's lives. Pull over if you need to call/text/use your phone.
When you're driving you need to be focused on the road ahead, the most distraction should be the occasional radio/air conditioning change.
Listening to the radio is nothing like LOOKING DOWN at your watch. I can have the radio on and I am still capable of doing the scanning that is needed to successfully drive a car.
When you're driving you need to be focused on the road ahead, the most distraction should be the occasional radio/air conditioning change.
Listening to the radio is nothing like LOOKING DOWN at your watch. I can have the radio on and I am still capable of doing the scanning that is needed to successfully drive a car.
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