IP: Re: Ford Talks Up Bluetooth Car

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> To: farber () cis upenn edu
> cc: lauren () pfir org
> Subject: Re: IP: Ford Talks Up Bluetooth Car
> Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2001 09:13:36 -0800
> From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
>
>  > >>Citing the growth of legislation banning the use of handheld cell
> >  >>phones while driving, Khangura said it was clear that drivers
> >  >>wanted to make phone calls in the car. He also displayed a survey
> >  >>that showed drivers singling out "dialing a cell phone" as the
> >  >>biggest distraction on the road today.
>
> Dave,
>
> What's so ironic is how this relates to the actual studies on this
> issue that have been done to date.  Two of the most interesting
> ones showed that:
>
>  a) The distracting aspects of cell phone usage (to the extent that
>     they are a distraction, see [b] below) are not so much related
>     to the handling of the handset but rather relate to the conversations
>     themselves.  That is, hands-free cell conversations seem to behave
>     similarly to handheld cell conversations in this respect
>     for the drivers of vehicles.
>
>  b) For those auto accidents where distraction was involved, cell phone
>     usage (of any type, handheld or not) was found to be the cause of the
>     distraction in only 1.5% of those accidents!  The other 98.5% included
>     eating, shaving, putting on makeup, dealing with children in the vehicle
>     (that's a major one!), and so on.  Cell phones get blamed because they
>     are relatively new and very visible when a handheld is in use, but the
>     statistics don't back up the popular view of their culpability.
>
> I spoke about this in my "Cell Phone Bans" Fact Squad Radio piece
> (http://www.factsquad.org/radio) and in my "Reality Reset" column
> entitled "Cell Phone Follies" (http://www.vortex.com/reality/2001-05-22)
> earlier this year.
>
> The piling up of *any* gadgets in autos, whether hands-free or handheld, is
> a complex issue that isn't going to be "solved" by Bluetooth or any other
> featured technology of the moment.
>
> --Lauren--
> Lauren Weinstein
> lauren () pfir org or lauren () vortex com or lauren () privacyforum org
> Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
> Co-Founder, PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
> Co-Founder, Fact Squad - http://www.factsquad.org
> Co-Founder, URIICA - Union for Representative International Internet
>                      Cooperation and Analysis - http://www.uriica.org
> Moderator, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
> Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy

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