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Study: Most Americans Support a Texting-while-Driving Ban

Paul Lilly — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:37:04 -0600

According to a recent New York Times/CBS News poll, an overwhelming majority of Americans feel text messaging while driving should be made illegal. Not only that, but over half surveyed said those caught sending a text while behind the wheel should be punished just as harshly as drunk drivers.

"If you're going to drive, drive; if you want to talk or text, pull over to the side of the road," Constance Drake, 71, of Toms River, J.J., said in a follow-up interview with the New York Times.

Americans don't seem split on the issue, at least according to the poll. Only 3 percent of respondents saw nothing wrong with texting and driving at the same time, while the other 97 percent disagreed. And around 80 percent said it should be made illegal to talk on a cellphone while driving, unless it's a hands-free phone. That's up from 69 percent in a 2001 ABCNews poll.

What's your stance on texting or talking on a cellphone wile driving? Tell us in the comments section below.

Image Credit: gtchannel.com

MIT Research Developing Adorable Robot for Your Dashboard

Bart Salisbury — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:52:26 -0500

There are few things in life as uncomplicated as driving a car. Really, there’s not all that much to it. Turn the key, engine revs up, put it into gear, point it in the right direction, step on the gas, and off you go. The Federal Highway Administration tells us that in 2004 the United States had 199 million drivers and 237 million cars. How hard can it be if nearly 90% of adults can drive?

As simple as this task is, there are all sorts of folks who want to make it easier. Modern cars are replete with little reminders: Do we have enough gas? Did we leave a door open? Are our headlights still on? But that doesn’t seem to be enough. Others want to make sure we know not only all about the car, but all about the entire transportation infrastructure that surrounds the car. TomTom will give us directions on how to get back and forth from work. (We haven’t figured that out?) And OnStar will tell us that we were in an accident. (How do we manage to miss something like that?)

And the end is not yet in sight. The goodly folks at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) want to build us a “plastic pal that’s fun to be with.” MIT’s Media Lab, its SENSEable City Lab, and Volkswagen have come up with AIDA, a cute little robot best-friend to sit on our dashboard. Not only will AIDA tell us about our car, and about traffic, it will bore symbiotically into our minds to second guess what we want to do.

What can AIDA do? According to Assaf Biderman, an associate director of the SENSEable City Lab: “Within a week AIDA will have figured out your home and work location. Soon afterwards the system will be able to direct you to your preferred grocery store, suggesting a route that avoids a street fair-induced traffic jam. On the way AIDA might recommend a stop to fill up your tank, upon noticing that you are getting low on gas. AIDA can also give you feedback on your driving, helping you achieve more energy efficiency and safer behavior.” First, if you can’t do this stuff you really shouldn’t be driving. Second, one nag in the car is quite enough, thank you.

Image Credit: MIT

Computer Engineers Can't Drive Worth a @$*%

Paul Lilly — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 08:52:10 -0500

Forget about student drivers and that little old lady going 25MPH in a 45MPH speed zone - the worst drivers on the road are computer engineers, according to a study by Churchill Car Insurance.

The insurance company collected and analyzed data from the last three years and put together a list of the top ten most frequently claiming occupations. As it turns out, writing firmware, designing mainboards, and other tasks performed by computer engineers lead to groggy drivers and road rage.

"The poorer claims experience associated with computer engineers, sales managers, chefs, and doctors most likely reflects the long hours they work in a very stressful job," said Tony Chilcott, Head of Churchill Car Insurance. "As a result, they are more likely to be tired when driving and possibly distracted."

On the flip side, farmers are among the safest drivers, at least according to claim frequency.

Image Credit: torontoist.com

Twitter to be Integrated Into OnStar In-Car Systems?

Andy Salisbury — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:04:53 -0500

I love Twitter. I think it’s a lot of fun, it’s a great way to keep track of those that you find most interesting, and now it appears that it will help you let the world know just what you’re up to… while you’re on the road!

According to Gear Live, Twitter will be implemented into OnStar by using text-to-speech conversion to help you update your status on the go. “While in your vehicle, you can use OnStar to submit and retrieve tweets (messages) via your Twitter account. Using OnStar’s Voice-Activated Hands-Free Calling system, and having your voice converted into text, you can provide updates which would appear in the ‘What are you doing?’ section of your Twitter homepage. It is also possible to listen to a tweet that was sent to you by someone else after it has been converted into voice. You can send and receive tweets without having to type or read anything.”

It’s expected that this can be a great tool for asking the world where the best cup of coffee in downtown San Francisco is, and waiting to hear the responses (for example). Moreover, it’s a great way to just let your followers know what you’re up to without having to endanger those around you. Eliminating the danger of feverishly typing out your 140-character updates while steering with your knees is mighty slick.

Image Credit: Gear Live

Allstate Testing Whether Games Can Actually Improve Driving

Andy Salisbury — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:40:54 -0500

Video games have always been linked to providing gamers with above average hand-eye coordination, but could video games be linked to making better drivers? Allstate is looking to find out, and possibly give insurance discounts to those that do.

A new program, called InSight, will provide specialized games to 100,000 Allstate insured drivers in Pennsylvania aged from 50-75. While drivers in their 50’s and 60’s have the least amount of accidents, once they hit mid-60’s the rate begins to climb. Tom Warden, an assistant vice president at Allstate hopes that the games will provide brain fitness for these drivers, and “significant benefits … beyond dollars and cents.”

The games, developed by San Francisco’s own Posit Science, include many non-driving specific games such as Jewel Diver. In Jewel Diver you’re required to keep track of jewels underwater that are hidden by fish. The fish shuffle themselves around the screen, and the goal is to select the fishes that are hiding the treasures. As the game progresses, it gets increasingly difficult, adding more fish to the screen.

Allstate will decide next year whether or not to roll out the program in other states, and with any luck they’ll leave Grand Theft Auto IV out of their curriculum (might I suggest FlatOut?).

Image Credit: Rockstar

Redmond Makes It Easier to Arrive with Better Live Search Maps Features

Mark Edward Soper — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:45:05 -0500

This week, Microsoft rolled out major enhancements to yet another member of its Live family: Live Search Maps.

Now, Live Search Maps places the directions in the left pane and the map in the right pane, making it easier to follow your route. Click the number next to each checkpoint to display a detailed map. And, you can switch quickly between 2D, 3D, aerial, and traffic views and, in a feature borrowed from its rivals, add stops as desired.

In a significant nod to those of us who navigate by landmarks, landmarks in six categories (gas stations, major national hotel chains, restaurants, convenience stores, grocery stores, and car dealerships) are now incorporated into the directions ("pass TACO BELL on the left in 1.1 miles"), and Live Search Maps even warns you if you've passed your last turn ("the last intersection is Main St If you reach Oak St, you've gone too far"). So, whether you're on a cross-country jaunt or just need to fill the inner geek with a quick meal, Live Search Maps has you covered.

With the optional Clearflow setting to help avoid traffic jams and an optional Traffic view, Live Search Maps acts as much like a GPS as a web-based mapping program can - except for the robotic voice (but you can do your own impression).

User-created maps (also known as "community maps") can be added to Live Search Maps and be searched by other users. As CNet puts it in their news story:

The user-created items will also be mixed in with business results, which means you or someone else could enter in a business' address and phone number before it's been officially added and have it show up in regular searches. Neat.

And, yes, Firefox fans, it works just fine in your favorite browser (as well as in IE). Give it a try and tell us how you like it.

Update 10-2-2008: Firefox fans, it looks as if the Welcome mat is out only if you're running Windows. MacOS users (see comments) are getting the cold shoulder from Redmond. If your experience varies, drop us a note.