ItCanWait
Latest
In-car voice commands cost you 27 seconds of safety
We all know that taking your eyes off the road is a bad idea, but now researchers have added another paper to confirm that using voice commands is just as unwise. A team from the University of Utah, in partnership with the American Automobile Association, believes that the mental effort of driving and talking on your phone is still dangerous. According to the research, it takes a full 27 seconds after completing a distracting task — queuing up a song even with your voice alone — before your brain is fully able to concentrate on the art of driving.
Werner Herzog directs documentary on dangers of texting and driving for It Can Wait campaign
AT&T recently recruited none other than Werner Herzog to direct some short videos for the "It Can Wait" campaign to curb texting and driving, but their collaboration hasn't ended there. The campaign, which also has the backing of Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile, has today released a 35-minute documentary by the legendary German filmmaker that delves further into the first-hand accounts of texting and driving dangers seen in the 30-second spots. Titled "From One Second to the Next," the documentary is freely available online, and is also being distributed to more than 40,000 high schools and number of safety organizations and government agencies in the US. As the Canadian Press reports, Herzog said that the project "immediately clicked and connected inside of me" when AT&T proposed it to him, adding, "there's a completely new culture out there. I'm not a participant of texting and driving -- or texting at all -- but I see there's something going on in civilization which is coming with great vehemence at us.'' You can watch the full documentary after the break or on the It Can Wait website.
AT&T developing tech to help parents keep teenagers from texting and driving, hopes to save lives
By now, you're likely aware of some of the repercussions that come with shooting an innocent text to a friend while being behind the wheel. Well, in an effort to keep these unfortunate accidents from ever occurring, the AT&T Foundry's been hard at work, hoping to come up with solutions to help with this serious matter. Most recently, the Rethink Possible outfit showed off an application that's currently in the works; one that allows parents to track their teenage drivers' every move, as well as remotely turn off calls and disable all messaging features -- which the carrier says will be a great compliment to its DriveMode app. It's worth noting the unnamed application was being showcased on one of Cupertino's slates, but AT&T's said it's willing to work with "device makers, car makers and developers," as the ultimate goal is to ultimately "encourage more solutions." There's a video past the break for your viewing pleasure, and we think it's worth all of its 197 seconds of airtime.
