Driven to Distraction / Drivers and Legislators Dismiss Cellphone Risks [Telecom]
Monty Solomon
Driven to Distraction
Drivers and Legislators Dismiss Cellphone Risks
By MATT RICHTEL
The New York Times
July 19, 2009
OKLAHOMA CITY - On his 15th birthday, Christopher Hill got his first
cellphone. For his 16th, he was given a used red Ford Ranger pickup,
a source of pride he washed every week.
Mr. Hill, a diligent student with a reputation for helping neighbors,
also took pride in his clean driving record. "Not a speeding ticket,
not a fender bender, nothing," he said.
Until last Sept. 3. Mr. Hill, then 20, left the parking lot of a
Goodwill store where he had spotted a dresser he thought might
interest a neighbor. He dialed her to pass along news of the find.
Mr. Hill was so engrossed in the call that he ran a red light and
didn't notice Linda Doyle's small sport utility vehicle until the
last second. He hit her going 45 miles per hour. She was pronounced
dead shortly after.
Later, a policeman asked Mr. Hill what color the light had been. "I
never saw it," he answered.
Extensive research shows the dangers of distracted driving. Studies
say that drivers using phones are four times as likely to cause a
crash as other drivers, and the likelihood that they will crash is
equal to that of someone with a .08 percent blood alcohol level, the
point at which drivers are generally considered intoxicated. Research
also shows that hands-free devices do not eliminate the risks, and
may worsen them by suggesting that the behavior is safe.
A 2003 Harvard study estimated that cellphone distractions caused
2,600 traffic deaths every year, and 330,000 accidents that result in
moderate or severe injuries.
Yet Americans have largely ignored that research. Instead, they
increasingly use phones, navigation devices and even laptops to turn
their cars into mobile offices, chat rooms and entertainment centers,
making roads more dangerous.
A disconnect between perception and reality worsens the problem. New
studies show that drivers overestimate their own ability to safely
multitask, even as they worry about the dangers of others doing it.
Device makers and auto companies acknowledge the risks of
multitasking behind the wheel, but they aggressively develop and
market gadgets that cause distractions.
Police in almost half of all states make no attempt to gather data on
the problem. They are not required to ask drivers who cause accidents
whether they were distracted by a phone or other device. Even when
officers do ask, some drivers are not forthcoming.
The federal government warns against talking on a cellphone while
driving, but no state legislature has banned it. This year, state
legislators introduced about 170 bills to address distracted driving,
but passed fewer than 10.
Five states and the District of Columbia require drivers who talk on
cellphones to use hands-free devices, but research shows that using
headsets can be as dangerous as holding a phone because the
conversation distracts drivers from focusing on the road.
Fourteen states have passed measures to ban texting while driving,
and the New York State Assembly sent such a bill to the governor on
Friday.
The states that rejected any efforts to limit distracted driving this
year include Oklahoma.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/technology/19distracted.html
T
> A disconnect between perception and reality worsens the problem. New
> studies show that drivers overestimate their own ability to safely
> multitask, even as they worry about the dangers of others doing it.
>
This gives me hope that autonomous vehicles would be an easy sell to the
insurance industry. You take out the last wildcard from the safety
equation.
And yes, I hear it from people all the time. What happens when the
computer has a fatal error. A correctly engineered system will have
both systems checks and a default state so that the car won't careen
off the road. Maybe just a system to move to the right most portion of
road or some such would be necessary.
Like it or not, we're going to see autonomous vehicles withing the
next ten to twenty years. Bits and pieces of the technologies are
already making their way into high end vehicles today.