iOS 7 Said to Integrate Siri and Maps With Your Car Dashboard

[KevinJS]

Thing is, people who do distracting stuff while driving will continue to do it, endangering all of us. Just hoping that they'll knock it off won't change things.

Agreed. Just to add, my iPad lives on the steering wheel when the vehicle is stationary. The picture I attempted to post, but failed, clearly showed the speedometer at zero.

I use my iPad for navigating around oilfield roads which are nearly deserted. The key word is "nearly". Meeting a speeding pickup on a bend is already dangerous enough. I don't need my attention anywhere but on the road.

There's another video somewhere which I wish I could find. It shows new drivers in Belgium being told that they have to perform a series of manoeuvres while composing a text in order to pass their driving test. They all agree that it's impossible.

 

[Kaykaykay]

Agreed. Just to add, my iPad lives on the steering wheel when the vehicle is stationary. The picture I attempted to post, but failed, clearly showed the speedometer at zero.

I use my iPad for navigating around oilfield roads which are nearly deserted. The key word is "nearly". Meeting a speeding pickup on a bend is already dangerous enough. I don't need my attention anywhere but on the road.

There's another video somewhere which I wish I could find. It shows new drivers in Belgium being told that they have to perform a series of manoeuvres while composing a text in order to pass their driving test. They all agree that it's impossible.

If it were up to me, there'd be a more big brother approach to keeping people from using their devices in cars, but people would scream bloody murder about any such move by automakers (who could build in blocking technology in cars), and automakers wouldn't do it.

It's tragic that someone has to lose their life over something stupid like texting while driving, but when they die in crashes, it leaves the rest of us marginally safer. I just don't want them taking innocent bystanders with them, or injuring them. It's like their playing Russian roulette and the rest of us are endangered because of their choices.

 

[KevinJS]

If it were up to me there would be a seriously Big Brother mentality applied to being allowed to use a vehicle at all. Pilot's license grant privileges. Drivers seem to think that their license grants rights. We would do well to learn from the aviation industry.

There used to be a contributor to the "TruckersReport" forum called DieselBear. He had a thread going called "Some of the stupid things I see". Bearing in mind he is a DOT officer and he is talking about professional drivers, what he had to say was interesting, and horrifying.

I believe he quit the forum when one too many people offended him. Pity. His contributions were very educational.

 

[Kaykaykay]

If it were up to me there would be a seriously Big Brother mentality applied to being allowed to use a vehicle at all. Pilot's license grant privileges. Drivers seem to think that their license grants rights. We would do well to learn from the aviation industry.

Sign me up. I'm with you. Unfortunately, not going to happen, though.

Longer term, self-driving cars seem much more likely. I hope they'll spread sooner than later.

 

[KevinJS]

I had a thought years ago that we should have a technology that automatically cut a vehicle's maximum possible speed to the speed limit on passing the relevant signpost. That was before most people, myself included, ever heard of the word "transponder" and RFID/NFC was a distant dream.

GM can already stop a vehicle using OnStar, so why not?

Self-driving vehicles? One day it may be practical, but I know how many split-second decisions it takes to get a trailer round a tight bend. I simply don't believe a computer system could handle all of the variables in sufficient time. Such a system would also have to be capable of being manually over-ridden, and guess who would be manually over-riding it? The very people we are talking about is my guess.

 

[Kaykaykay]

I had a thought years ago that we should have a technology that automatically cut a vehicle's maximum possible speed to the speed limit on passing the relevant signpost. That was before most people, myself included, ever heard of the word "transponder" and RFID/NFC was a distant dream.

GM can already stop a vehicle using OnStar, so why not?

Self-driving vehicles? One day it may be practical, but I know how many split-second decisions it takes to get a trailer round a tight bend. I simply don't believe a computer system could handle all of the variables in sufficient time. Such a system would also have to be capable of being manually over-ridden, and guess who would be manually over-riding it? The very people we are talking about is my guess.

It's a matter of time and money, and they'll eventually be widespread. It's good that a company with lots of money, like Google, is doing research. I don't know if I'll still be able to drive by the time they're widespread, but I know they'll come to pass.

With how many people die and are hurt in cars now, on top of just car damages, we'd still be better off with self-driven cars. The biggest problems are inattention or risky driving on the driver's part. With self-driven cars, you could address that. Of course there's no sense putting them on the road before they're ready, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't look ahead.

I expect small affluent communities and countries will be the trial bunnies first.

 

[Kaykaykay]

And some things are a matter of will, not money. That's why we don't have speed cut offs in cars, and no blocking built in to prevent electronics use while in a moving car. The tech exists, but the will doesn't.

 

[KevinJS]

I think thoughts on how we get about has been suffering from a severe lack of thought for decades. People routinely die in road traffic accidents in numbers that would get massive media coverage if the same numbers were dispatched by any other method.

We demand convenience. My being on the road is an annoyance to a lot of people, even (or especially?) those who rely on the service I provide. We get used to the idea that other road users are somehow invading our personal space if we are forced to interact with them. I don't think that's a safe attitude. Again, if I'm doing 30mph under the speed limit, there's a good reason for it. If you feel that you are entitled to be doing 75mph because that's the speed limit, we are going to disagree. Driving at all is a privilege, and without the attitude that we are all in this together, we will continue to have problems.

Distractions from technology are only a small part of the problem.

 

[Kaykaykay]

I think thoughts on how we get about has been suffering from a severe lack of thought for decades. People routinely die in road traffic accidents in numbers that would get massive media coverage if the same numbers were dispatched by any other method.

We demand convenience. My being on the road is an annoyance to a lot of people, even (or especially?) those who rely on the service I provide. We get used to the idea that other road users are somehow invading our personal space if we are forced to interact with them. I don't think that's a safe attitude. Again, if I'm doing 30mph under the speed limit, there's a good reason for it. If you feel that you are entitled to be doing 75mph because that's the speed limit, we are going to disagree. Driving at all is a privilege, and without the attitude that we are all in this together, we will continue to have problems.

Distractions from technology are only a small part of the problem.

Well you're essentially talking about people selfish, no matter in what form, and that's just humanity. If we were all able to step back and see how we're all it together, we'd be rid of many problems, big and small.

With driving, you're asking people to trust each other to do right, and the possible cost is our lives.

 

[KevinJS]

...and the possible cost is our lives.

I read that twice. I have nothing more to add. I'm preaching to the choir here.

 

[dannydog]

i think that's great

 

[AQ_OC]

Thing is, people who do distracting stuff while driving will continue to do it, endangering all of us. Just hoping that they'll knock it off won't change things.

More to the point, one doesn't need to have a gadget in the car to get distracted...one's thoughts alone can be enough. I think distraction while driving is more of a personality trait than anything else. Some people can keep focus while doing other things (because they know what is important and they know their own limitations, so they stay aware of their surroundings and never attempt any action if there is a potential for something to go very wrong)...and some people can't (these are the ones that will completely take their eyes off the road while driving, for a time long enough for something to go terribly wrong because they were not circumspect enough to think ahead). For those who can't, then having them to have less things to do is a safe bet, but if one is the type that can get lost in thought, nothing is going to help him or her. As always, it will be the lowest common denominator that dictate measures. This means, that eventually all texting will be disabled automatically when the phone can detect that it is moving over certain speeds. You'd think they'd just put an NFC chip in the steering wheel and let the driver's phone be the one that gets disabled, but experience proves that the regulators will make things suck absolutely for the greatest number of people.

 

[Kaykaykay]

More to the point, one doesn't need to have a gadget in the car to get distracted...one's thoughts alone can be enough. I think distraction while driving is more of a personality trait than anything else. Some people can keep focus while doing other things (because they know what is important and they know their own limitations, so they stay aware of their surroundings and never attempt any action if there is a potential for something to go very wrong)...and some people can't (these are the ones that will completely take their eyes off the road while driving, for a time long enough for something to go terribly wrong because they were not circumspect enough to think ahead). For those who can't, then having them to have less things to do is a safe bet, but if one is the type that can get lost in thought, nothing is going to help him or her. As always, it will be the lowest common denominator that dictate measures. This means, that eventually all texting will be disabled automatically when the phone can detect that it is moving over certain speeds. You'd think they'd just put an NFC chip in the steering wheel and let the driver's phone be the one that gets disabled, but experience proves that the regulators will make things suck absolutely for the greatest number of people.

That's a given -- as long as a human is involved in an activity, distractions are possible. There have been various studies that indicate that cell phone use isn't necessarily any greater a distraction from driving than others.
Driver Distractions - Don't Be a Statistic
But no one is legislating us out of doing any of those behind the wheel, either. Ultimately, self-driving cars will save lives, injuries, damages and loss of productivity and time. Meanwhile, we need for people to minimize risks by not doing stupid stuff. Thing is, that's not going to happen with lots of people.

 

[AQ_OC]

That's a given -- as long as a human is involved in an activity, distractions are possible. There have been various studies that indicate that cell phone use isn't necessarily any greater a distraction from driving than others.
Driver Distractions - Don't Be a Statistic
But no one is legislating us out of doing any of those behind the wheel, either. Ultimately, self-driving cars will save lives, injuries, damages and loss of productivity and time. Meanwhile, we need for people to minimize risks by not doing stupid stuff. Thing is, that's not going to happen with lots of people.

From that site:

The distraction occurred within three seconds before the vehicle crash!

if people would just make sure that nothing can collide with them for more than 3 seconds before doing something other than driving, then most of the accidents would go away. Not going to help with mind drift, but things like reaching eating, kids in the back, reaching for the radio, etc, would be less of a problem. But then people have to be able to reason that a blind intersection of any type is a potential accident waiting to happen...and some minds just don't process info like that.

I agree with the comment on self-driving cars....just wish it would happen in time to impact my world.

 

[Kaykaykay]

From that site:



if people would just make sure that nothing can collide with them for more than 3 seconds before doing something other than driving, then most of the accidents would go away. Not going to help with mind drift, but things like reaching eating, kids in the back, reaching for the radio, etc, would be less of a problem. But then people have to be able to reason that a blind intersection of any type is a potential accident waiting to happen...and some minds just don't process info like that.

I agree with the comment on self-driving cars....just wish it would happen in time to impact my world.

Some people are too stupid not to tailgate, for instance. You see it every day -- they don't leave any buffer to respond if something goes wrong. That's why so many people run into the back of others' cars, including chain reaction pileups.