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View Full Version : Rocket scientist’s idea could put an end to texting while driving



chancy
4th December 2014, 03:14
Hello Everyone:
Here's an article I came across today. Thought it was rocket science from a rocket scientist until I read how he had decided how to keep people from texting while driving!
A rocket scientist with any smarts would realize that NO ONE would plug his device into their vehicle and pay for the priviledge. People are addicted to texting and nothing so lame would be bought by consumers. They would sooner text!
What do ya'll think?
chancy

Here's the link:
http://yahoonewsdigest-us.tumblr.com/post/104188268634/rocket-scientists-idea-could-put-an-end-to


Here's the article:
Dec 2nd, 2014
Rocket scientist’s idea could put an end to texting while driving
Dave Sueper was driving to a meeting in 2008 when he was struck and killed by a distracted teenage driver who had run a red light. Scott Tibbitts, a chemical engineer and space entrepreneur who made motors for NASA, was the person Sueper was to meet. Tibbitts, who was deeply affected when he learned about the accident, tells Yahoo News’s Katie Couric he became fixated on finding a way to prevent another death from distracted driving. Tibbitts and his team at the new company he founded, Katasi, developed Groove, a small device that plugs into a port located under the steering wheel (found in most cars made after 1996) and connects the car to the Internet. Once the car starts moving, the gadget blocks messages to the driver’s phone.

For my kids, it’s also heartwarming to know that someone else who had nothing to do with our family took on that challenge in honor of their dad.
Diane Misgen, the widow of Dave Sueper

Texting while driving has replaced drinking and driving as the leading cause of teen vehicular death, responsible for 20 percent of all teen highway fatalities in the United States. There have been several attempts to curb this disturbing trend, most often with the use of apps on phones that tap into GPS signals to detect when a cellphone is traveling more than 10 miles per hour and disable distracting features on the phone. But these apps can easily be overruled by the driver, and they don’t make a distinction between a person traveling by car, public bus, bike or any other transport over 10 miles per hour.

Carmody
4th December 2014, 04:09
Make local bylaws or state laws that make it so the violator is not allowed, by law, to possess or use a cell phone or portable communications device, for 3 months on the first offense (texting while driving).

Second offense, 1 year.

third offense, $10,000 and and 5 year ban.

ie, similar to drinking and driving laws.

Also, automatic suspension of the divers license on the first offense.

Loss of the telecommunications device and the driving license. both.

Being caught with a cell phone while under suspension means an automatic extension of...both.

That's fairly harsh, but..it is an idea. Something might come of it.

Anchor
4th December 2014, 04:21
I cant see it happening. Having been successful in getting the masses to use them, why would the government pass legislation that potentially separates people from their mobile sensor platforms and operator brainwashing devices?

Matt P
4th December 2014, 10:56
I understand and respect the concept here but this shouldn't be necessary except that so many people are soooooooo stupid. That's really what we've become when we need gadgets, and more new laws, to do the idiots' thinking for them so they won't kill themselves or someone else. I don't need a gadget or law to keep me from texting while driving. What the hell is wrong with people?

Matt

araucaria
4th December 2014, 12:13
I cant see it happening. Having been successful in getting the masses to use them, why would the government pass legislation that potentially separates people from their mobile sensor platforms and operator brainwashing devices?
A little cold turkey might be on the menu as well.

robinr1
4th December 2014, 13:10
that's just what we need at this point in our history.....less freedoms and more state statism. there isn't enough people already kidnapped by the state for victimless crimes

lets make a lot more.... I fear as a society we are doomed when a place of this nature cannot even agree on freedom and liberty.





Make local bylaws or state laws that make it so the violator is not allowed, by law, to possess or use a cell phone or portable communications device, for 3 months on the first offense (texting while driving).

Second offense, 1 year.

third offense, $10,000 and and 5 year ban.

ie, similar to drinking and driving laws.

Also, automatic suspension of the divers license on the first offense.

Loss of the telecommunications device and the driving license. both.

Being caught with a cell phone while under suspension means an automatic extension of...both.

That's fairly harsh, but..it is an idea. Something might come of it.