more on Silliness in Action: California Poised for Cell Phone Ban

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Marc Aniballi <marc () zenture biz>
Date: August 27, 2006 12:45:48 PM EDT
To: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: Re: [IP] Silliness in Action: California Poised for Cell  
Phone Ban
Reply-To: marc () zenture biz

Hi Dave;

I wonder if anyone on IP has any information on the relative risk  
posed by mobile phones versus radios, in-car GPS, and even unruly  
children or any sort of irate passenger?

Might not a better solution be to require graduated licensing to  
permit those people with the requisite attention management skills to  
use them, while also requiring those without them to abstain from  
driving when the environment will exceed their tested ability to cope?

;-)


Regards,

Marc Aniballi

This message was sent using a portable messaging device.


-----Original Message-----
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sun, 27 Aug 2006 11:36:56
To:ip () v2 listbox com
Subject: [IP] Silliness in Action: California Poised for Cell Phone Ban



Begin forwarded message:

From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
Date: August 27, 2006 11:16:53 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Cc: lauren () vortex com, smoke_dc () yahoo com
Subject: more on Silliness in Action: California Poised for Cell
Phone Ban


> From: patrick thibodeau <smoke_dc () yahoo com>
> If the California law is silly, then what
> should be done to reduce cell phone related death and
> injury?

Enact and enforce strong laws with significant penalties against
distracted/unsafe driving in *any* form.  In many states, laws are
already are on the books related to distracted driving, that would
in theory cover unsafe driving actions while using a cell phone
(whether hands-free or handheld) as well as any other unsafe actions
that drivers may embark upon while driving.  Unfortunately, these
laws are not widely enforced.

As I noted previously, if you want to remove cell phones from the
long list of potential driving distractions, the science indicates
that you would need to ban their use entirely (whether hands-free or
not) -- merely substituting hands-free for hand held won't have the
intended effect in the long run.

We might want to remove car radios and other audio/video devices
also, since people fiddling with radio and other control knobs in
vehicles while driving are high up on the "distractions leading to
accidents" list.

Or... we can stop the inappropriate focus on individual devices and
instead concentrate on actual driving and drivers behaving in unsafe
manners -- no matter what the reason for their distractions.

---Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren () vortex com or lauren () pfir org
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
    - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, IOIC
    - International Open Internet Coalition - http://www.ioic.net
Moderator, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
DayThink: http://daythink.vortex.com




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