Law proposed to force cell companies to shut off texting over 5mph

Teen drivers would find their fingers forcibly idled under a City Council plan to require that all cellphones sold in Chicago come equipped with technology to disable text messaging capabilities.

If approved, the ban would take effect next year. The text-stopping application would kick in if the mobile phone is in a car going faster than 5 mph.

Link to article

I could only find one article for this story.

Don't worry, though, they are proposing that this is just to curb teenagers' use of texting while driving, which became illegal in the state recently. This isn't to prevent grown adults from texting while driving, just helping parents deal with their unruly teens!

Sponsoring Ald. Edward Burke, 14th, said that as a father of a teenager, he thinks a government requirement is appropriate to curb texting while driving ... "Parents don't have the knowledge, they don't have the ability" to get the text-stopping technology installed in their children's phones themselves, Burke said.

Good idea? Bad idea? Is a law needed or is this just more bureaucracy?

What if I'm riding with a friend?

reply to post by MJZoo


No texting for joo.

Five seconds after it's enacted there will be an app that roots it.

I love how they only attack what's common.

Gotta layer on law after law regulating cell phone use because a simple distracted driver law isnt enough apparently.

So while they waste millions of dollars and hours passing a law that will not prevent anyone from doing the thing they seek to prevent we have thousands of amateur radio operators fiddling with frequencies and trying to make contacts 100's of miles away in their porcupine looking cars.

But that will just be ignored because it isnt as common as cell phone use.

If legislators are going to be crazy I wish they would at least apply it consistently.

How can the phone tell if you're travelling when you're actually sitting there, still, while it's the car that is moving?

Reply to post by Garfee

Accelerometer or GPS built in to the phone.


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

reply to post by warbird03


Not built in to my trusty piece of sh*t! Tell the kids to get an older phone and see how that goes down.

I'm a little curious about the comment that passenger's phones wouldn't work also, it will be interesting if this happens, how it will work.

reply to post by Garfee


For passengers or even safety they would have to include some way to unlock the lockout.

Otherwise if you're trapped on a bus and that cant drop below 55 miles per hour or a bomb would explode how would you be able to call out for help? The bus radio, maybe but you cant take the bus radio with you so the feds can talk you through defusing the bomb.

You need a cell phone for that.

Reply to post by jjkenobi

This right here.

It will be circumvented within hours.


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

Originally posted by warbird03
Reply to post by Garfee

 

Accelerometer or GPS built in to the phone.

 

Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

 

Accelerometer would not work if you are driving 60mph steadily as there is no change in velocity = no acceleration. GPS is only possibility because triangulation between phone and BTSs is very inaccurate - in fact BTS triangulation may block messaging from phone that do not move at all. It look like very stupid idea.

Originally posted by Garfee
How can the phone tell if you're travelling when you're actually sitting there, still, while it's the car that is moving?

Because the phone is moving in the car jeez They're simply using the GPS system that already exists between the towers and the phone.

Good idea for a driver, but I can't see how it could differentiate between driver and passengers. I can see many parents getting this service for their kids. As for the idea that some app will render this inoperable its possible if cell companies go the cheap route and only put this service in the phones and not in the towers where it can't be superceeded.

Truthfully great idea that will probably be implimented in way that won't work or can be overrided with ease.

Whoever drives and texts at the same time shouldn't even be allowed behind the wheel of a car.

Texting and driving is as bad as drinking and driving. I don't understand where the complacency has come from when it comes to driving a car.

Driving requires your full attention at all times and it is a very serious business. If you are not up to that responsibility DON'T DRIVE.

You can be as cavalier as you like with your own life but chances are you will kill someone else.

Regardless of whether or not I agree with this ban...if they are going to enact it they need to extend it to include EVERYONE...more often I see adults doing this than teens. Teens are probably more apprehensive as they're new to driving and some may not have the ability to multitask during their early years of driving. I rarely see my teenage nieces and nephews doing anything while they're driving...but driving. (of course there are exceptions). However, I constantly see grown men and women driving, talking on their cell, fiddling with the radio, drinking a coffee and driving with their left knee....on the darn highway!!

Michelle

Originally posted by Garfee
How can the phone tell if you're travelling when you're actually sitting there, still, while it's the car that is moving?

this is the correct question we should be asking.

cell phone towers, amongst other infrastructure (smartmeters), create an RF "grid" in a localised area. the interference of objects within the grid, can be rendered into a 3d map of the area within the grid. this technology is already in use today. this is why they are pushing to put in these smart meters everywhere, as it extends the "coverage" of the grid. the constant expanding of cellular infrastructure is not for communications as is being sold to us. its our prison basically

a small plane simply flys over the area with a special type of radar, and then back at base they are able to see every square inch of what is happening within the grid in real time. even in your house. several planes can also work in unison to triangulate a given area.



this is why i laugh everytime i read somebody being worried about FLIR or thermal cameras. they matter very little compared to "the grid".

beware anything operating in microwaves too (i.e chordless phone, wifi)

as for the texting thing, they will just do what everybody already does and that is text at stoplights.

Originally posted by kennyb72
I don't understand where the complacency has come from when it comes to driving a car.

Familiarity breeds contempt.

Driving day in day out one becomes complacent. With "texting" you get the compounded "immortal teen" factor.

Same thing leads to lifelong cops shooting somebody while cleaning their gun or lifelong hunters falling from tree stands.

You do something long enough, often enough, it ceases to be relevant and that's when accidents happen.

reply to post by kennyb72


Thanks to kennyb72 for that eye-opening public service announcement! Starred!

______________________________________________________

Back on topic-

I guess no more time-killing texting on that commuter train in the morning.
Or, in the car pool backseat.
Or on the bus.

I see some stupid legislation now and then, but, this takes the cake.

Cuhail

Originally posted by Starrunner

Originally posted by Garfee
How can the phone tell if you're travelling when you're actually sitting there, still, while it's the car that is moving?

Because the phone is moving in the car jeez

They're simply using the GPS system that already exists between the towers and the phone.

Think about it. The car is moving. Other than during acceleration and deceleration, the phone and the occupant can be, theoretically, completely still otherwise.

reply to post by againuntodust

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for U.S. teens, accounting for more than one in three deaths in this age group.1 In 2009, eight teens ages 16 to 19 died every day from motor vehicle injuries. Per mile driven, teen drivers ages 16 to 19 are four times more likely than older drivers to crash. Fortunately, teen motor vehicle crashes are preventable, and proven strategies can improve the safety of young drivers on the road.

cdc

That is why teen drivers get picked on.

Personally I don' think you should be able to drive till 18. I don't think a 16 year old is mature enough to handle a vehicle.
The less distraction they have, the better.

May 5, 2009 -- Driving while text messaging or fiddling with an MP3 player is dangerous -- even more hazardous than talking on a cell phone, a new study shows.

webmd

reply to post by Cuhail

Thanks to kennyb72 for that eye-opening public service announcement! Starred!

I said it because nobody else did, most posts on this thread are about how to circumvent a plan to stop idiots driving without looking where they are going.