Two national news articles in the past few days promise even more problems with distracted driving. First, a major car manufacturer has admitted that its newest dashboard-mounted technology, a screen that allows Internet browsing and synchronizing with a mobile phone screen while the car is in motion, has not been working consistently. So, on top of the distractions that will result from drivers interacting with these new dashboard screens, we can add the same frustrations that computer users sitting in a chair in a cubicle or office experience every day — error messages, blank screens, interfaces that change for no apparent reason, etc.. Just what the driving public needs. Opposite of the manufacturers’ statements that this new technology will make cars safer.
Now comes the World Health Organization with a report recommending that cell phones and their low level radiation be labeled “potentially carcinogenic.” One recommendation from experts in response to the report has been that cell phones users, instead of holding phones to their ears during calls, text or email instead.
Talk about the cure being potentially worse than the disease.
The only thing I can offer to parents of teen drivers is that these developments are one more reason to look into the cell phone applications that disable texting and emailing while the car is in motion.
