I hesitate a bit to write a column about driver distraction since the last time I did so a few readers found it necessary to disparage me on our letters page. Around Christmastime I had advocated carriers including a hands-free kit (an ear-bud at the very least) with every new wireless handset sold as an effort toward safer use of wireless phones while driving. The response from a few libertarians out there basically was that simple-minded people such as myself might need laws to keep them safe from their own stupidity, but others in the world were capable of making safety decisions on an as-appropriate basis.
But this seems to be one of those, “I know I can trust myself to do the right thing when I am driving my car, it is you, other driver, that worries me,” situations. Well, at some point we are all the other driver.
I thought the suggestion was fairly benign but it seems I pushed some buttons. Without question this is one of the top hot potato issues in the wireless industry today. We are talking about safety and personal freedom and money and lives, after all.
With the New York ban signed into law, driving-and-dialing legislation pending in dozens of states and possible national legislation down the pike, the industry is in a precarious position.
The party line from CTIA and some of the major carriers has been “education not legislation.” These groups also say there is a lack of data available showing that driving and dialing is any more or less dangerous than a host of other activities from reading a map to drinking coffee to changing the radio station while driving.
The Consumer Electronics Association has come out and said, “CEA shares concern about misuse of in-car devices, but expansive new laws can be a blunt instrument. Laws that seek to target the effect-distracted driving-are a much wiser choice. Such laws are already in place, and proper enforcement of inattentive driving laws would greatly remedy the problem of distracted drivers.”
Still, I like Verizon’s more proactive position coming out in support of legislation and its statement that the company “fundamentally believes” hands-free wireless devices are the safer choice for the road.
This is not one of those issues that is going to go away. Might as well deal with it head on.
And by the way, I still think it can’t hurt to make it a little easier on the consumer … just give them the hands-free kit. Just imagine the money that will be saved in future litigation.
Driver distraction and other issues of concern to the wireless and automotive industries will be addressed when business leaders from the two industries meet this fall at the Wireless Automotive Executive Briefing brought to you by RCR Wireless News and Automotive News Oct. 17 in Detroit. Watch RCR for more info.
