June 16, 2007
New system detects calls while driving
by Dhiram ShahStatistics show that driving while talking on the cell phone increases the chance of an accident by 400 %. Though speaking on the cell phone while driving is not a crime in many states as of yet taking into consideration the statistics it will eventually be banned in all the states. A new company Highway and Safety control is releasing a device to automatically detect drivers talking on their cell phones. Instead of police officer needing to observe a cellphone in use, the system automatically detects a cell phone call and records which car was making the call. Already in use in a few European countries the system will make it to the US this fall it is designed to detect, identify and cite drivers who break cell phone us laws.” . The company attaches a paint gun to mark the car, or even an EMP gun that can disable the offending cell phone.
The company is the first in the world to develop such a system.
This is fine and I would agree that talking on your phone while driving is dangerous in some situation, but the article does say whether or not the law will pertain to those people using hands free devices, which is not against the law.
How can they be sure that it is the driver talking and not a passenger?
What does it mean to attach a “paint gun mark” to a car? That sounds vaguely like “shooting a car with a paint gun.” That’s remarkably unsafe for a device that’s supposed to save lives. Can it successfully detect if the user has his window rolled down or his convertible top down? Will it miss pedestrians? Damage the car?
And what makes you think that an “EMP gun” can properly localize its effect to disable only the cell phone while leaving the vital elecronic components of the car intact? Not to mention that an EMP pulse doesn’t temporarily disable the phone, it destroys its circuitry. No more phone. Have they done any studies to see if a badly timed EMP makes the battery catch fire in the users hand?
And hey, what about the users complying with hands-free laws? They must get their phones fried too, since I’m fairly sure there’s no way to distinguish between the two modes of operation aside from, yep, you guessed it, looking at the user.
This is about 17 terrible, halfway thought out ideas. Either April Fools day came late this year or this is a company that really likes the concept of bankruptcy.
Can anyone say “Big Brother”? What about hands-free kits? How would the system differentiate between a user talking on one of these vs just the handset? An ELECTRO MAGNETIC PULSE gun? Are you kidding me? What happens the first time the system knocks out someones pacemaker? This is just plain stupid!
WOW, this is so completely bogus it’s not even funny. The “Company” site is amateurish at best, paint balls thudding on the car could CAUSE an accident, and EMP would take out not only the phone (permenantly), but also the car computer, and all other electronics in a fairly decent radius, causing the car to halt where it is rather abruptly.
This product is totally bogus and will never happen as stated in this article. That doesn’t even cover legal cell phone use with hands-free and /or the possibility that isn’t the PASSENGER.
I Call Shenanigans on this!
Yeah, and we should automatically give tickets for no seatbelt, exceeding the speedlimit, changing lanes with no blinker, anytime the tires skid, driving without car insurance, drinking and driving, driving at night without your headlights on, tapping bumpers with any other car,…and so many other, probably better, ideas coming to a city near you!
It’s funny how it doesn’t describe the technology on how this works. If I had to take a shot in the dark, I would say it works by detecting a Doppler shift in the signal received by the tower.
This sounds awesome, but can it differentiate a driver from a passenger talking on the phone?
What about passengers using a cell phone?
This sounds pretty slick. I’m wondering though since I make my BMW car calls via Blue Tooth that still constitutes a call being made and for then to know who’s Blue Toothed and who is not is not clearly answered here. They better not cut off my conversation when it is hands free or even if someone had a headphone as they should. Where’s the bottom line?
yes but i’m the passenger…
Umm .. I know of NO state that has a law against talking on a cell phone while driving .. Its the use of a cell phone without a hands free kit that is against the law. NOT simply using the phone. Also even a 1st year law student will be able to put up a fight against this so called “evidence”
What about the distraction a paint gun hit could cause to the driver?
“Already in use in a few European countries”
Ok, name them.
The only reason I think this might be a real product is that the idea is so bad in so many ways that government at all levels will fall all over themselves to adopt it.
Ok.. and not only the controversy about the passenger(s) using a cellphone.. what if the driver or passenger is using a system like onStar? Or, what about using a cellphone that is broadcast through the radio when its attached or any hands free system? Why disable those?
I agree that ANY distraction while driving is dangerious.. I ever had a car totaled because a guy was on a cellphone (In a work truck nonetheless) and hit me from behind when he did not brake at a traffic light.
But banning one object – a cellphone – will not stop people from eating while driving and other things. What about women who put makeup on while they are driving? Or parents who have kids shouting and fighting in the car while driving? Or two people are in an argument while one is driving? Someone watching a laptop computer or a GPS while driving (multiple injuries and even deaths have been reported from those electronics). All of these can be more distracting than talking on a cell phone.
If it is not one distraction, it will be another. The controversy should be distractions, not one object – a cellphone.
Aww, come on. This article has to be a joke. Especially the part about the EMP gun.
Guys come on we all know by now (through reapeting posts) that this is a bad Idea but lets find a better one
are there no more posts
Guys alright the thing about this article is that the stats are out and there are more then just “Statistics show that driving while talking on the cell phone increases the chance of an accident by 400 %”
this is a problem so how are we going to fix it lets at least take one distraction at a time not all at once. the ideas are still be thought of this was one that obviously won’t and didn’t work so lets see is any of this feed back helping. why are we wasting our time shooting down ideas. why not try to make them better.
from experience a passenger on a cell phone can be very distracting and at times as bad as being on a cell phone. don’t get me wrong there is a difference and it is worse for the driver to be on the phone but we could all be a little more safe with out cell phones. but since that is not going to happen lets talk ideas for safety not repeat each other every other post on how bad this artical is
This is so fake, it’s hilarious. Not only what the other people have said about EMP malfunctions, and the passenger using the phone, the hands-free kits, etc., but you’ve also got to consider, how irritated would someone be that just had their car shot at with a paint-ball gun? If the paint got scratched, the police department could face some serious lawsuits for damaging vehicles, missing and hitting pedestrians, cracking a window, denting or gouging the car…killing a person with a ventilator, missing and knocking out an ambulance’s electronics as it drives by…
The possibilities are endless to get sued for this one.
All I say is put down the phone, pull over, and THEN talk.
No problems that way, right?