U.S. Group Wants Total Driving Cell Phone Ban -- Or -- "Are you talking to yourself again?"

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

remind me of prohibition djf

Begin forwarded message:

From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
Date: January 11, 2009 11:24:16 PM EST
To: dave () farber net
Cc: lauren () vortex com
Subject: U.S. Group Wants Total Driving Cell Phone Ban -- Or -- "Are  
you talking to yourself again?"


              U.S. Group Wants Total Driving Cell Phone Ban
                                -- Or --
                   "Are you talking to yourself again?"

               http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000492.html


Greetings.  The U.S. National Safety Council wants to ban all cell
phone use when driving, both hands-free and hand-held
( http://uk.reuters.com/article/marketsNewsUS/idUKN1129237820090112 ).

Now, from a technical standpoint this does make more sense than
banning only the use of hand-held cell phones when driving, since
study after study shows that hands-free is just as distracting
( http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000396.html ).

However, I question whether the U.S. has the political will for such a
total ban on cell phone use by drivers, and I also set forth the
following query ...

When viewing someone in another vehicle, assuming no visible flashing
lights in their ears and such, how can you tell the difference between
someone talking on a hands-free cell phone vs. someone talking to
themselves?  Would police be issued specialized gear to detect cell
phone signals?  Just how would such a ban be managed from a practical
standpoint?

Of course, the answer is that it would *not* be practical.  The
solution is not to concentrate on cell phone use, but rather on actual
*distracted driving* in its various forms -- including when
caused by eating, putting on makeup, tuning the radio, playing with
the other hi-tech gadgets on the car console, yelling at the kids in
the back seat, being visually diverted by the under-clad body waiting
at the crosswalk, or ...

The distracted driving itself is what really counts, not the
innumerable possible actions that we take while driving with the
*potential* to distract us.

It's time to bring some sense back into this debate, not more nonsense.

--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, NNSquad
  - Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com






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