CallingWhileDriving
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National Safety Council calls for nationwide ban on cellphone use while driving
There's already been a number of states that have passed some form of ban on cellphone use while driving, but the National Safety Council seems to think that there's still far too many folks out there talking or texting behind the wheel, and it's now calling for an all out nationwide ban on the practice. What's more, the group also says that laws that allow for handsfree cellphone use are "giving people a placebo, in effect," and that they don't, in fact, make calling while driving any safer. The group also seems to be taking particular aim at businesses, saying that calling while driving can increase costs and even open up employers to liability. As you might have guessed, however, the cellphone industry, and the CTIA specifically, disagree with that assessment quite a bit, and instead say that they believe that "safe, sensible and limited use of a cell phone when you're behind the wheel is possible," and that if someone is "driving irresponsibly because of cell phone use, they should be cited for that. And under current law, they can be."
Aegis Mobility's DriveAssist cripples your phone when you drive
Headset or no, talking on the phone while driving can be dangerous -- either to you or to your license. Various states have various bits of legislation indicating what is and is not allowed while in motion, but what if you want to have somewhat more specific controls over your kids or workers? That's the idea behind Aegis Mobility's DriveAssist (not to be confused with BMW's Drive Assist), described as a sort of nannified assistant for people on the go. Using GPS it determines the user's "driving context," disabling incoming and outgoing calls and texts and holding messages to deliver later. It's an interesting idea, and given the risks of texting while driving in particular it's a good one, but we wonder what happens if you're on a bus or sitting in the passenger seat.[Via textually.org]
