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"Anything that gets drivers' eyes back in the general direction of the road is a good thing." On that note, it's technologically possible these days to mount a

"Anything that gets drivers' eyes back in the general direction of the road is a good thing." On that note, it's technologically possible these days to mount a tiny camera that would keep track of your eye movements and orientation, and would activate a danger signal -- or something to that effect -- when your eyes have been taken off the road for more than X consecutive seconds (i.e., if they're staring at a cell phone screen while you're texting). So as not to be super-annoying, the X second interval would be ratcheted high enough not to freak out everytime you checked a side mirror or looked out the window, or at the radio dial, etc. Seems to me that this sort of thing would save at least as many lives as the incessant beeping that new cars activate when you turn on the ignition without fastening your seatbelt. Then again, maybe this is a terrible idea, bound to plague millions of drivers the way the seatbelt beeping does. I dunno. I'm just really sick of near-misses with idiots who are texting while driving.

Gormo 15y ago
> Seems to me that this sort of thing would save at least as many lives as the incessant beeping that new cars activate when you turn on the ignition without fastening your seatbelt. I wonder what the net effect would be, considering the potential of drivers to be distracted by annoying beeping noises, or to condition themselves not to look out windows or in mirrors when doing so is more important than looking out the windshield. > Then again, maybe this is a terrible idea, bound to plague millions of drivers the way the seatbelt beeping does. I dunno. I'm just really sick of near-misses with idiots who are texting while driving. I'm not convinced that it's generally a good idea to outsource responsibility for safety to external devices, but if you're going to do it, in this case, it may be more reasonable to put the constraint in the phone rather than the car. It should be relatively trivial to restrict text entry when moving at high speeds on a phone with embedded GPS, and doing so would alter the behavior of the thing causing the distraction rather than the thing you want drivers to pay attention to.
- jonnathanson 15y ago
  "It should be relatively trivial to restrict text entry when moving at high speeds on a phone with embedded GPS, and doing so would alter the behavior of the thing causing the distraction rather than the thing you want drivers to pay attention to." True, but that solution would have the unintended consequence of screwing over passengers who may want to text.
Too 15y ago
You can get something similar in volvos today, driver alert control(DAC) they call it. It's based on how well you follow the road. If you start to drive wobbly compared to your "normal" driving pattern you get a warning. "Time for a break?" ...and an icon of a coffee cup :P I remember a few years ago when the technology was ready but it was held back because they thought people would feel insulted by the car but apparently it got through to market now.

Gormo 15y ago

> Seems to me that this sort of thing would save at least as many lives as the incessant beeping that new cars activate when you turn on the ignition without fastening your seatbelt. I wonder what the net effect would be, considering the potential of drivers to be distracted by annoying beeping noises, or to condition themselves not to look out windows or in mirrors when doing so is more important than looking out the windshield. > Then again, maybe this is a terrible idea, bound to plague millions of drivers the way the seatbelt beeping does. I dunno. I'm just really sick of near-misses with idiots who are texting while driving. I'm not convinced that it's generally a good idea to outsource responsibility for safety to external devices, but if you're going to do it, in this case, it may be more reasonable to put the constraint in the phone rather than the car. It should be relatively trivial to restrict text entry when moving at high speeds on a phone with embedded GPS, and doing so would alter the behavior of the thing causing the distraction rather than the thing you want drivers to pay attention to.

jonnathanson 15y ago
"It should be relatively trivial to restrict text entry when moving at high speeds on a phone with embedded GPS, and doing so would alter the behavior of the thing causing the distraction rather than the thing you want drivers to pay attention to." True, but that solution would have the unintended consequence of screwing over passengers who may want to text.

Too 15y ago

You can get something similar in volvos today, driver alert control(DAC) they call it. It's based on how well you follow the road. If you start to drive wobbly compared to your "normal" driving pattern you get a warning. "Time for a break?" ...and an icon of a coffee cup :P I remember a few years ago when the technology was ready but it was held back because they thought people would feel insulted by the car but apparently it got through to market now.