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Tech companies have the power to end the smartphone problem overnight. Just takes Apple and Google disabling the screen of any phone moving faster than 5mph. P
by Amezarak 5y ago
Tech companies have the power to end the smartphone problem overnight. Just takes Apple and Google disabling the screen of any phone moving faster than 5mph.
Passengers would be inconvenienced, but basically every phone-related crash would be prevented.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- seanmcdirmid 5y agoPeople on buses, trains, ferries, and planes would also be inconvenienced.
- Amezarak 5y agoYes, they would have to return to pre-2010 life while being transported. Not exactly a huge cost compared to the number of lives saved when it’s almost entirely entertainment.
- SR2Z 5y agoYes, we should severely inconvenience people who are _doing the right thing_ by taking public transit so that bad drivers who can't stop checking their phones won't main/kill themselves and others.
- Amezarak 5y agoGoing without a smartphone on transit is not a severe inconvenience. It’s a very minor one. Just a few years ago nobody even knew they needed one. Snapchat was not worth my cousin's life.
- canadianfella 5y agoGo live in Singapore if you don’t value individual freedom of choice.
- asdff 5y agoGoogle and Apple are already tracking the bus/train/ferry through their mapping software. Wouldn't be hard to set up a crude geofilter and guestimate whether a user was on transit or not. Some transit agencies even integrate directly with the phone's wallet system, so you could measure that a fare was paid concievably.
- culopatin 5y agoNot in most of the world where the buses or trains are running disconnected from a public network
- syshum 5y agoYOu assume that only drivers are the problem with cell phone More than a few pedestrians walk and use their phone, walk right out in the traffic, or other situations (some hilarious walking right into poles and getting laughed at on the internet. I know in a few nations this may be a hard concept, but here in the US, it is absolutely NOT true that "pedestrians always have the right of way"... no no no
- xxpor 5y agoPedestrians always have the right to not be run over.
- mwint 5y ago“Right” is a strange word here, but there are absolutely cases where pedestrians have no right-of-way over cars. In these cases, you can be run over and you (or your family) will have no legal recourse against the driver. Zero, nada, zilch. So in the legal sense, it is not true that a pedestrian always has the right to exist at any point on the earth without being run over. In a moral sense, perhaps every driver has an obligation to try not to run over pedestrians. That might create a “right” in some moral/ethics frameworks, but it doesn’t exist as a legal concept in my state.
- MikeTheGreat 5y agoIf you don't mind sharing some examples I'd love to hear them, out of curiosity more than anything. Which situations (and in which country/countries) do pedestrians not have right-of-way over cars?
- chrismcb 5y agoIn America, at least in same States, pedestrians only have a right of way in a sidewalk or crosswalk. I all also add, stepping in front of a moving vehicle means having to obey the laws of physics.