Car Tech forum: Are you for or against GPS and cell phones in cars?

The best I ever saw was a helicopter flight in Hawaii. Our pilot was

1) flying (extremely smoothly)
2) in radio contact with the tower and the other craft around
3) switching the cameras to the onboard video recorder
4) mixing the music soundtrack
5) giving us a commentary when he wasn't on the radio

However, he was not surrounded by traffic a couple of feet away doing 70mph, or traffic coming at him at a combined speed of 140mph passing at only a couple of feet; and there are strict limits on his flying hours; and strict limits on his medical condition and fitness.

I always feel that instead of a blanket ban, a more enlightened approach is to permit people to do things such as using cell phones provided they are hands free, and they undergo a regular assessment to prove that it does not affect their driving adversely.

Here in the UK, I use a hands-free - I always did, long before it became compulsory. I also use it rarely, and when I get to a junction, stop talking and ask the person at the other end to hold on. If the conversation requires concentration e.g. talking them through non-routine IT tasks, then I either pull over or usually ask them to wait a while until I can call them back e.g. if on the freeway.

I learned from that pilot - although he was able to do all those things, he dropped all but the essential ones during manoeuvres such as taking off and landing.

In other words, he prioritised, and talking on the cell phone is a low priority at all times when you are driving.

As an aside, they are extremely useful when driving at times - for example, I was picking my daughter up from the "Race for Life" a few weeks ago in torrential rain and traffic. In driving up to try to find her in the crowd, it was useful to keep an open channel and I described what I could see until she spotted me. This enabled me to concentrate more on the driving than I would have been able to do without the cell phone.

Nothing to do with how many gadgets he/she is surrounded by: a good driver will always be a good driver, a bad driver etc etc

Cheers
Luke

I have been riding motorcycles for 38 years and am very much against this type of technology in vehicles. Even though I am a computer tech and am technology oriented, I have been involved in what cell phone/GPS use can do to drivers, myself included. In the younger days of cell phone technology, I thought that I was able to use a cell phone and drive, but after being distracted by them and running off the edge of the road, I found I wasn't. So, now even though I carry a cell phone, I pull off to use one or let my voice mail take care of incoming calls until I can get someplace to answer a call.

In the past few years I have been ran off the road more times that I care to remember by cell phone users while on my motorcycle. It is a jungle out there for us anyway without having a distracted 4 wheel driver trying to do us in. The last time was just last week when a distracted woman in a mini van merged into traffic on a 4 lane limited access road. I moved over into the left lane and saw her talking on the cell phone and swatting her kids in the back seat at the same time. It was a good thing I was keeping an eye on her because she just kept on coming and moved into my lane without even paying attention if anyone was in the lane. I went off the shoulder of the road on the left side and kept my motorcycle upright, coming to a stop to regroup. I saw her cruising away, still oblivious to the fact that she had just ran someone off the road.

Please people, think not only of your fellow 4 wheelers out there, but give us that are on two wheels the benefit of the doubt too and pay attention to your driving. Hang up the cell phone and make the call later, eat after you get to work, not while you are driving, pull over and refer to your GPS for directions, strap your kids into the car seats or seatbelts and make them behave BEFORE you start driving or pull over and take care of the problem. We will all be thank you for it.

Some people like myself have a knack for juggling many things at once and at the same time able to be fully aware of whats going on around me. I have always been a very good driver and have never caused an accident or even nearly caused an accident and I have driven several hundred thousand miles. I can work on my laptop while driving, work my gps, eat food, whatever, but I am always aware of whats going on around me at all times, I only divert my attention from the road when it is safe and never on residential streets, narrow streets around corners, etc.

Some people have a hard enough time just driving their car let alone an additional distration. It scares me seeing how some of the other people on the road have such difficulty driving their car I would hate to see those people trying to work a cell phone at the same time. I would support the DMV putting out a special driving test to allow people who are capable of multitaskiing and can pass their tough test to operate such devices in their vehicles with out any future legislation which may restrict such usage. And if an individual who is cited for not paying attention who has such a priveledge it should be taken away for a set time until they will have to retest.

Even though I love my gadgets, I set my GPS, and make my phone calls before I take off in the car, so I am not distracted by those things. Distracted drivers are dangerous to all of us.

GPS ok, but I'm absolutely against cellphones in cars, even when used as handsfree, because there's always an unacceptable loss of concentration.
Further I'm also against drugs and/or alcohol, but can we ever stop this?
Like we say in the Netherlands. It is "Vechten tegen de bierkaai" or in English: It is lost labour.

We have some rules on the use of cell phones and GPS in the car. All cell phone are cut off when we get into the car. It is like putting on seat belts. Any routes we are going to use the GPS must be put into the system before the car is put in gear. The GPS is mounted so the driver cannot see the screen and only relies on the verbal directions. The front-seat passenger can see the screen and gives advice as to how far before the next turn and in which direction. This gives maximum information with minimum distraction. The driver can constrate on the road and other cars. If we decide to change where we are going we pull into a rest area or gas station and make the change. We believe these rules help make a safer trip and still get use of the GPS. Phone call are returned after we get out of the car. It has not been that long since no one had cell phones and they got along fine.

The problem with car designers - European or American - is that they never heard of user friendliness: look at the current crop of built-in GPS. Except for one (Chrysler) minivan, you have to take your eyes off the road and look (in some cases way) down to get the info you want.
Honda split the dashboard and placed the speedometer in the upper layer, near the line of sight to the road. Why do we have to wait for the Japanese to make progress in car design??? I get it, the term is management incompetence! The same guys who will advertise that their trucks now have 600 horsepowers while the gas is up to $6.

I think that everything is relative - if you can safely take a call while using a handsfree kit then I think that this is acceptable. I have 2 small kids and they are much more distracting than a mobile phone - what about changing the laws so that kids are banned from the car unless separated from the driver by soundproof glass !!!!!

both cell phones and GPS are useful tools but the people using them often create dangerous situations because they are distracted when they use them whilst driving. Maybe the answer is to have them locked in some way so that they only work if the vehicle is stationary.
In the past if I wanted to make a phone call or look at a map I stopped my car and went to a phone booth or parked to check a map. I don't see why this could not be the case with our electronic version of the same.
Driving requires total attention and anything that distracts from that is not a good thing.
However much we rely on these things there is no doubt that serious accidents have been caused because someone was using them and had their attention diverted for that fraction of a second.

Cell phones should not be used by the driver while the auto is in motion. It is very dangerous and irresponsible. GPS can also be distracting. Pulling over and stopping the vehicle is the best measure when using these devices. DB

the idiots who drive and read, put on makeup, and generally do not bother to watch the road or their driving will not be any more dangerous with the new gadgets. if it were just they who were killed, we would have darwins law to help the rest of us out, but we are all in this together. nothing we do is going to change their driving habits just as nothing done to drinkers as punishment or suspension of their license will stop them fromn drinking and driving. our best bet has always been that they die alone and before reproducing.

that second you look ? how far have you travelled at say 40 mph in that time - it's a long way and plenty of time for a lot to happen whilst you are distracted.
I'm ex Fire Service and spent many hours seperating people from their cars after less of a distraction put them in danger. Unfortunately many only came out in body bags.

OK we can have phones that are completely voice activated but it is well known that talking on the phone does distract from driving. OK chatting to passengers can do the same but in chatting, if the road is busy, you can ignore comments and concentrate on driving until the situation allows you to respond to the chat. The phone commands most people to respond immediately regardless of the traffic conditions.
We live in an age where we don't seem to be able to survive unless we are in contact with someone all the time. In truth I would guess that most calls made and received in vehicles could easily be left for another time. If it's an important one then surely pulling over and taking the call whilst not driving would allow the full concentration on this important call.
As has been said many times in this discussion - anything that distracts a driver is a bad thing. Isn't it true that nearly every accident is caused by someone whose concentration fails for that fraction of a second.

GPS is new and for many years the world managed quite easily without it.. Old sailors went all over the world without a compass so it is not an absolute necessity. Useful yes, time saving, maybe. But not vital.
One of the things it has done is to put everyone in the position of being able to be tracked by whoever wants to track them. Personal liberty issue?
Satellite tv is good but personaly I dont want it. Mobile phone in the car - no thanks , it's the one place I can get away from the phone. GPS , no thanks - I prefer a map, very often I spot places I would like to see and do a quick detour to see them. I don't want to be told I have to turn here or there to get to my destination. It's more fun finding it the hard way.