lumpulus

And we all know how that turns out....when did anyone ever not get their license to drive? And who needs a license anyway?

http://vancouver.ca/police/organizat...d-driving.html

holografique

Worked up? Why because I typed "facepalm" at the end of my post? More like laughing in jest at how silly this entire debate is. You'd think we were trying to justify drinking alcohol while driving.

Mike_TX gets it. I don't really have anything more to say on the subject.

lumpulus

Couldn't edit my last post....just saw this on the news. Driver that pulled out was talking on cell phone...admitted to fault as well.

weather

I agree with you 100% - If I ever lose a love one by a distracted driver texting or talking on their cell phone, I can assure they will have a bad moment!

weather

I don't want to drag on the conversation and for the record, I agree with both camp here....

I am not against some technology introduced in cars although the handheld phone and texting while driving is a big No No for me. I am not denying the argument that people kill people....not the technology!

For example....Alcohol doesn't kill people, its the people that consume the alcohol and decide to get behind the wheel that do! The same came be said about the technology.

Now I will say this....Many studies are now demonstrating that texting and driving is as dangerous as driving under the influence. Then why is the penalty not matching the crime....We are demonizing drinking and driving, which we should, but distracting drivers is rapidly becoming one of the biggest killer on the road....Politicians can't just react fast enough to amend the law to cope with this.

As lumpulus stated, I hope none of us will ever have to morn the loss of a loved over this subject....

Mike_TX

This topic always brings a lot of emotion with it, so I won't add to what I've said.

I do, however, want to clarify that I'm NOT a fan of people hand-holding cellphones and driving (even though most people can do that with no problem), and I most certainly don't want people texting while driving. That's absurd and unsafe, and illegal in most states.

I AM in favor of advances like Carplay, which actually make driving safer by integrating functions into the car's computer system and making most tasks hands-free. The biggest advance in Carplay IMO is setting destinations by voice in one single phrase. Don't really care about the rest of it.

Y'all drive safe out there.

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George Knighton

We're trying to balance safety against the liberty of the subject.

Any time you try to restrict somebody's ability to do something, there's a portion of the electors who will be up in arms.

But then you have people at the other end of it who sooner or later will sue a corporate body or the Crown itself because they *can* do something that is dangerous.

As our ideas change the law will change. The levels of alcohol we allow now are much, much lower than they used to be. I think that most of the States restrict your ability to use a hand held phone while driving, but you still have the die hard libertarian places like Virginia....

At some point we aren't going to have buttons at all. It'll all have to be voice commands because we'll be doing 100 mph on improved roads and *any* look away from the road will be too much of a distraction.

By the way....

We've talked about the wonderful improvement that the newer touch screens are. They *are* a great improvement. But I confess that at my age it can take a full second to focus on what it is that one of these big blocky touch buttons really says.

If you're using ACC, that one second is your entire reaction time. With ACC, after that one second you look up and see red lights in front of you, it's too late. They tell me that most people who use ACC set it at two seconds, and I know that is what I do.

I try to use voice commands as much as possible, or use the steering wheel controls as much as possible. And I can very well imagine that in the near future all controls will be available this way, and only this way, for the sake of a more ultimate safety.

George Knighton

Remember that "attractive nuisance" idea at common law, too. Unless one of the States has legislated against it, the principle applies.

Just because you think that doing something is blatantly, obviously stupid does not necessarily protect you from tort action.

Remember the settlement against Porsche and that road course?

It was a lot of money, but they could see where it was going so they all gave up and settled.

Mike_TX

George - for the record, you showed the above as a quote of mine, but it's actually Weather's.

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George Knighton

I'm sorry about that.

I had ticked a number of multi-quotes because I thought I might be saying something else.

sorry.

Tonyware

Before cell phones, before navi, before facebook... everyone was on time and in the correct place. It just took one phone call, days in advance,and we were all there. Now, it takes 40 e-mails, 200 texts, 60 facebook "likes" and still people never get there on time and often go to the wrong place. I sometimes wonder... can carplay fix all that? Nop.

George Knighton

You're right, it will not fix the fact that in 2014 we are all instantly connected about trivial items, and that we fail to connect in any way about the important items.

Mike_TX

I am proud to say I don't do Facebook or Twitter, nor whatever that other stuff is (Instagram? Snap-something?)

I'm so old that I don't really understand what those things bring to the table that email and phone calls don't.

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George Knighton

It's a blog kind of thing. You're talking to a wide group of people all at once instead of restricting yourself to one or two people in email or a single person in a phone call.

You can also throw out a thought to get reactions and try to understand why the world is going the way that it is.

I've met some interesting people from inside the Beltway because of a theoretical political comment I made some months ago. It attracted Republican respondents, which was unexpected, being myself a Democratic servant.

I'd have never met them otherwise.

George Knighton

Went and looked at a few Youtube videos of people demonstrating Carplay.

I believe that I am a little more excited about it now and if it becomes available for the RLX, I will probably get it.

Mike_TX

When it comes down to it, Carplay simply ports your iPhone's content and its internet connection to the car's screen/audio system, and as such it makes you wonder why it took so long for someone to do this.

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lumpulus

Because of the variety or phones and Autos....

Colin

^^ That and the fact that the smartphone revolution is only ~7 years old. car development cycles are easily 5+ years.