U.S. Transportation Department Proposes Simplified 'Driver Mode' to Help Curb Distracted Driving

[LordVic]

Clearly, I'm not talking about a learning disability, but a dependency on technology simply because it's easier (i.e. calculators existed back when I was in school and most of the kids wanted to know why they couldn't use them). The problem is when you don't have a calculator on hand, you won't be able to do any math and I can at least see that perspective as in the old days we didn't all have iPhones in our pockets (I did have a Casio Databank Watch for a long time that had a calculator in it, though).

But from what people at work that have kids right now tell me about the current math methods, no one memorizes math tables anymore which from my perspective means everyone's counting on their hands and toes or using a calculator anyway, which defeats the point from what I learned. In college, I started doing long division in my head even because it saved time (I needed my scientific calculator for graphing and other things and having two calculators with me got to be a pain too).



I once had a Calculus 2 teacher in college that couldn't teach the damn class and 3/4 the class dropped including me and I never had so much as a "C" in my entire life to that point. I had to change majors since he was the ONLY teacher teaching Calc2 in the Science college at the time (I switched from Computer Science to Electronic Engineering Technology which was in the tech college instead and had different teachers). Oddly most of the teachers in the science college were foreigners and hard to understand with their accents, etc., while every single teacher in the tech college was an American and other than a Tennessee accent, they were pretty easy to understand. But that was not the case with the Calc2 teacher (he was an American). He was just a bad teacher. I had to drop his class or I would lose my scholarship which required a certain grade average (and I never even got a "C" in 7 years of college, let alone an "F"). Like I said, 3/4 the class dropped and I remember hearing him telling some other teacher out in the hall how we were all lazy and stupid or something. Yeah, I took Calc2 a two years later in the tech college (they didn't use it until year 3) and that teacher was available before class to answer homework questions, etc. and the bottom line is that I got 100% on the final and an A in the class so to me that proved it was the teacher that was the problem not me. Math was never my strongest subject, but a lousy teacher doesn't help anyone learn anything.

I agree how important a teacher Can be. This guy was toxic. He'd walk into class, see me sitting at the front and in front of the class say "you're still here? Why don't you just drop out already"

I can't explain it, but math causes me distress. Even basic adding with two digit numbers, will make my brain go into pure confusion mode. 7+26? And suddenly it's like I'm reading ancient hieroglyphs and the numbers become absolutely meaningless in my brain. I know what it's supposed to do. I get the logic of the math and how it works. But I still can't do it in my head. I have always had problems like this since I was a kid. Even identifying currency has been troubling for me. It's haunted me my whole life.

And this teacher knew it since I had been tested for a disability the year before and we know he got that information relayed to him. By grade 9, I was reading and writing at a college level. I was doing logic problems at university levels. But my math was grade 2 levels

 

[NY Guitarist]

I like the idea in theory; I'm not sure how this could be implemented without it being paired to some system in the vehicle.

 

[iGeek2014]

Here in the U.K. this HGV driver was jailed for killing four people as he was distracted by his Mobile at the wheel:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-37823457

Watch this video here:

about the devestating impact the crash has had on their loved ones and tell me why such a feature is a "bad idea".

It won't deter some people but in the first half of 2017 those caught behind the wheel face six penalty points and a £200 fine.

 

[Gasu E.]

This wouldn't be needed if motorists engaged brain and not use phone while driving. Distracted driving now injuries / kills more people than impaired driving.

Have you actually never met a teenager?
[doublepost=1479954776][/doublepost]

This would suck. We already have a car where I, as the passenger, cannot use the navigation system because the car is moving. There is no way the government is going to get this right. But this is really easy to fix this. Make the law 2 months mandatory jail time for anyone using a phone while driving. 90 % of the offenders would stop day 2.

Why should I, as a passenger, be punished for other people's stupidity? How would this work on trains, busses, or the back seat? I would only accept limitations in this area if they absolutely only applied to the driver and not any passengers. But I don't see how that can happen. And once we start telling people where they can use their phones, what is next? Can't use them at the theater, not at political rallies (at least not Trump rallies), not in the presence of the police, not unless you are a certain age. Where does it stop?

You should the entire article before commenting. Particularly the paragraph that begins: "The NHTSA said technologies..."

 

[Solomani]

I'm ok with the DOT recommendation, I'm sure Apple wouldn't really have any objections.

But it better not lead to the Government imposition of Bathroom Mode.

 

[840quadra]

Then you're still not "focusing on driving" either. Apparently there is a world of difference, by the government's own admission, otherwise they would be advocating locking the whole thing out.
The world has had heating/cooling, radio/cassette/8-track/CD and other controls - which also constitute "not focusing on driving" - but has been happy to live with them. Hell, the earliest cars had a dude walking in front waving a lantern.
If you don't accept the difference between changing songs and texting/Facebooking, then you should also be advocating for removing everything not directly related to driving from the dashboard/console (or at least the driver's side)... starting with the entire in-dash screen. Because it's the same argument.
Let's also get rid of speed enforcement: http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2016/10/study-finds-that-strict-speed-enforcement/
Otherwise, you acknowledge that there are certain environmental controls that are part of the driving experience, and that those may reside on the in-dash screen or even a disconnected screen... a phone.

EDIT: Also kids. Let's get rid of kids, possibly the greatest driving distraction of all. Particularly since you won't be able to change anything on the entertainment system, since it's apparently indistinguishable from texting/Facebooking.
How committed to "distraction-free driving" are you really? I mean, if you're not willing to sacrifice to save every single life possible, well...

I don't agree with that assessment.

• When you drive at night, do you have a footwell light on to know where the gas and brake pedal is?
• Do you see dome lights on at night within cars with a manual transmission, so those drivers know where the shifter is and what gear they are in?
• On your daily driver, do you need to look for your door handle, or do you know where it is, in order to exit your car at night without lights.
• Do you physically have to look at your stereo in your car to know where the knob is, then focus to know how to turn the volume up or down?
• Do you have to take your eyes off the road to locate your turn signal stalk to operate it to signal a lane change?
• When playing a video game, must you focus on the controller in order to play or, can you play it intuitively without consciously calculating what button to press or how hard?

In Automotive ergonomics there are two big psychological concepts that designers put into consideration and test against. The Human's ability for situational awareness, and, (muscle) memory. There are also standard input methods that are universal (example..Scrolling up = louder, or more, or higher, Scrolling down = quieter, less or lower), and because of that are intuitive. Many such inputs are designed to not require the users visual focus, after familiarity is established with a control system.

Touch screens require people to establish a visual frame of reference (Distraction away from driving), to establish where or what application one is in before operation. After that, users often need to reference that interface (look at the screen) to ensure the input was properly entered before proceeding to the next action.

There is a very good reason that many car controls and interfaces are so strongly regulated, and why R&D to implement them is such an expensive element in new model development. .

 

[dontwalkhand]

That's called public transportation or a taxi.

Those still have drivers.
[doublepost=1479957135][/doublepost]

Meanwhile, my Apple watch tells me to get up and move while i am driving. Seems odd that Apple has been so far behind in this area.

Worse is that it does it while navigation is on! It knows I'm driving!

 

[840quadra]

Meanwhile, my Apple watch tells me to get up and move while i am driving. Seems odd that Apple has been so far behind in this area.

Worse is that it does it while navigation is on! It knows I'm driving!

I don't see why this is bad.

Many European cars remind you to take a break every two hours (or less), and some have sensors installed to keep track of a drivers alertness.

Getting up and moving around helps with alertness, and many German cars have had such alerts built in since the 80s.

 

[eebrown]

You certainly will be punished (or killed !) if some distracted driver t-bones the passenger side of the car in which you are riding. Also, there is some evidence that passengers who are watching the road are less likely to distract the driver away from the road just when the traffic or something in front of the car looks dangerous.

Less than 20 years ago, nobody had smart phones in cars. They were not being punished for not having them.

I think your right, i hate the fact that we have come to a point when we need to pass another law because people are to stupid while driving to pay attention but I think the seriousness of this issue requires it. I manage truck drivers and in fact do my fare share of driving comericial vehicles and it truly amazes me to pass or pull up next to someone and look down and see them texting or watching a video on their Mobil device. As much as I really hate to say it I think they should disable anybody in a moving vehicle from using a mobile device. I guess they could make it that you could call 911 but that should be the only function of a mobile device while the vehicle is in motion. Truly exciting and sad times we live in.

 

[kwikdeth]

As if laws - or government at all for that matter - actually protects anyone from anything.

last I checked that whole "murder is illegal and you'll go to jail for a long time" thing was pretty effective.

 

[NY Guitarist]

It would be a great day if we could only get idiots to stop texting or staring at their phones while walking!

Seriously, EVERY day I am in near collisions with people who are walking around while looking at their phones, or they stop in the the worst place while texting, zero situational awareness and oblivious to the logjam they create.

 

[I7guy]

It would be a great day if we could only get idiots to stop texting or staring at their phones while walking!

Seriously, EVERY day I am in near collisions with people who are walking around while looking at their phones, or they stop in the the worst place while texting, zero situational awareness and oblivious to the logjam they create.

You're not going to kill someone walking and texting as in driving and texting. Too many are driving and texting...these people have a death wish.

 

[gavroche]

Yeah, that would work if your phone had a survey-grade GPS built in, and your car only turned in one direction; left or right.

Not to mention two gps devices working in unison, to determine who is taking the shorter route (as opposed to just taking a wider radius turn on a given occasion).
[doublepost=1479962850][/doublepost]

So it's okay then right?

What about the Personal Injury and property damage accidents outside of that scope? Also wouldn't mind seeing less traffic caused by distracted drivers leaving large gaps, missing lights, or abruptly changing lanes to make exits.

All that said, this Technology will likely not fix any of these issues, it will just annoy some, and likely be bypassed anyway.

385 deaths is not ok, buy i think the point being made was that this is not likely to have any impact... amd that time and reaources could be put to more productive things that have a higher likelihood of having an impact.

How many people think that airplane mode has saved a single life?

 

[miniyou64]

last I checked that whole "murder is illegal and you'll go to jail for a long time" thing was pretty effective.

Maybe it's just that most people don't have any reason or desire to do that. Because last time I checked, people who want to do these things, don't check the pesky law books before doing it...they just go and do it

 

[NY Guitarist]

You're not going to kill someone walking and texting as in driving and texting. Too many are driving and texting...these people have a death wish.

True, but I've actually witnessed people walk out into traffic while looking at their phone.

As far as texting & driving I can't believe how many times I've seen a person driving a minivan with a kid in a baby seat obviously texting.

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

Touch screens require people to establish a visual frame of reference (Distraction away from driving), to establish where or what application one is in before operation. After that, users often need to reference that interface (look at the screen) to ensure the input was properly entered before proceeding to the next action.

There is a very good reason that many car controls and interfaces are so strongly regulated, and why R&D to implement them is such an expensive element in new model development. .

The first car I recall seeing with a touch screen interface was my grandfather's 1988 Buick Reatta (two-door roadster that for the first year at least had a touchscreen interface that showed various engine controls plus the thermostat/air controls and the car stereo all in the touch interface). At the time, I thought it was freaking awesome. I watched Knight Rider. This was right up there with those controls. But I road as a passenger. Years later, I got my drivers license and two after that I needed a car for college and my grandfather offered to sell it to me for a low price. I took it for a test drive. Immediately, I knew that touch screen was BAD NEWS. You could not do a DAMN THING on that car without LOOKING at the touch interface because there was absolutely no tactile feedback. You couldn't feel a rocker switch or a dial or anything. You had to LOOK to see what you were touching on the screen. Just to change the radio station or adjust the climate control you had to LOOK LOOK LOOK every time at what you were doing. Awful. Just awful. (and yet today that is the "in" thing to have a giant touch screen for navigation and the stereo and perhaps more yet). Touch screen have NO PLACE IN A CAR!!!! The best designs have controls you can recognize by touch (shaped buttons, knobs and sliders). That used to be standard.

I knew it was an accident waiting to happen plus you couldn't change the cassette deck over to CD without bypassing everything since it was geared only for what it came with on the touch screen. I wanted a CD changer system. This wasn't going to work for me. Plus I wanted a stick shift and it was an automatic. I ended up getting a 1988 Chevy Cavalier Z24 5-speed instead. I had that car for nearly ten years until some lady fell asleep at the wheel driving back from Myrtle Beach, SC and hit me at a dead red light doing about 70mph (I was doing 5mph). A fraction of a second later and I would probably be dead. I still broke my finger and I wonder to this day if the bulging discs I now know are in my neck were caused by that accident (the hood flew 200 feet down the road and would have decapitated anyone if they had been in the way). It looked like I had a head-on collision based on the wreckage, despite it being a side swipe of the engine compartment, smashed halfway up the hood. She was distracted. She was distracted by being asleep.

 

[Aussi3]

driverless cars will be the only way to stop it lol

 

[vmachiel]

You think?

https://www.theguardian.com/technol...illed-autopilot-self-driving-car-harry-potter

Normal drivers kill 30000 people in the US alone... Software will only improve further. Humans won't

 

[KiwiAdventure]

I understand why this would happen in America just look at all the different alarms in American cars to remind them what to remember and yes it's only cars built for America.

 

[Tech198]

ok, this could be good. but what about those cases where :

- someone texts you
- cannot pull over in traffic.
- But its an emergency..
- u don't have hands-free.

You realize they're not asking to make using your phone in the car easier.
They're asking to make the phone essentially lock you out during driving.

and it would be the same to say Apple. Complains will flood in as "I wanna text but i cannot"

I can see this see this system is good, but won't be followed. Anything is helpful as to lower the numbers, but users will do what they want if it's an option to turn it on. Which if part of the phnoe which would have to be required to be full proof, if would need to be GPS aware so when car starts moving smartphone switches automatically to drive mode when it detects speed above..... , but you'll have all sorts of issues if GPS in on all the time.. etc..

I don' t see how this will improve things if it's optional to put it in this mode, as while users may do it, most will not of they wish to text without hands-free. And will be more of a distraction than anything in itself.

 

[Solomani]

Driverless cars! It's the future, baby! You can text in your car without killing anyone!

…. oh wait…. am I the 356th person to mention driverless cars already?

 

[weckart]

Normal drivers kill 30000 people in the US alone... Software will only improve further. Humans won't

Normal drivers kill about 1,500 in the UK annually. A country with a fifth of the population of the US but much more densely populated. By far the most deaths occur in built up areas (think pedestrians) rather than rural roads or motorways. There is plenty of improvement in the human element to be had, as our great panjandrums at home still believe.

The problem with automation is that its impetus is all too often laziness. Current solutions all require an element of supervision - both machine and human. Laziness has led to deadly complacency as the example I cited demonstrates. Thus far, automation is solving/alleviating one problem whilst causing another.

 

[vmachiel]

Normal drivers kill about 1,500 in the UK annually. A country with a fifth of the population of the US but much more densely populated. By far the most deaths occur in built up areas (think pedestrians) rather than rural roads or motorways. There is plenty of improvement in the human element to be had, as our great panjandrums at home still believe.

The problem with automation is that its impetus is all too often laziness. Current solutions all require an element of supervision - both machine and human. Laziness has led to deadly complacency as the example I cited demonstrates. Thus far, automation is solving/alleviating one problem whilst causing another.

Simple: ban all drivers from the road, switch to autonomous driving only. Current technology can easily create a huge network of interacting cars that never run into each other. See:

[doublepost=1479975505][/doublepost]

That's called public transportation or a taxi.

One doesn't go everywhere and the other is expensive.

 

[sofila]

This would suck. We already have a car where I, as the passenger, cannot use the navigation system because the car is moving. There is no way the government is going to get this right. But this is really easy to fix this. Make the law 2 months mandatory jail time for anyone using a phone while driving. 90 % of the offenders would stop day 2.

Why should I, as a passenger, be punished for other people's stupidity? How would this work on trains, busses, or the back seat? I would only accept limitations in this area if they absolutely only applied to the driver and not any passengers. But I don't see how that can happen. And once we start telling people where they can use their phones, what is next? Can't use them at the theater, not at political rallies (at least not Trump rallies), not in the presence of the police, not unless you are a certain age. Where does it stop?

I'm with you on this, but history (recently more than ever) teaches us the idiots will find another way to show their mental condition

 

[Lancer]

Not sure how this would work, does it rely on the GPS and detecting when you go over a set speed? What if you're not the driver or on a bus or train, how will it detect you're the driver?
[doublepost=1479982733][/doublepost]

Make the law 2 months mandatory jail time for anyone using a phone while driving. 90 % of the offenders would stop day 2.

As if the jails are not already over crowded with people behind bars who shouldn't be leading to them returning time and time again.