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Police detectors to warn mobile phone-using drivers

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Police detectors to warn mobile phone-using drivers

#41

Post by mgamache »

ehnto wrote: post #25
kurtisc wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Phones have legitimate uses in cars. Satnav, music, or even just an indication that you just pull over and answer a phone. Given that I've never used one illegally, I think it's fair for me not to want to go through a power cycle for every journey. How could Uber work without one?

The utility for devices in a car is obvious, no one is arguing that they aren't useful. But that's just a shame, because using them kills people every day and we haven't found a way to police it yet. Power cycling may just be a caveat of the policing methods. Driving is a privilege that is constantly abused. Perhaps we just couldn't handle unfettered use of devices in cars the same way we couldn't handle drinking and…

That sentiment can be made about a lot of things including cars themselves:

"The utility for cars are obvious, using them kills people every day. We just couldn't handle unfettered use of cars. I am all for some kind of controlled way of safe use of cars, but it doesn't exist. Better to remove the temptation until it does."

Re: Police detectors to warn mobile phone-using drivers

#42

Post by wil421 »

esotericn wrote: post #23

For context, across the UK we have similar systems for speed limits. They are not used for enforcement or prosecution. They are informational boards. Actual speed cameras are different (usually a yellow or blue box that doesn't give any feedback). It's basically a sort of 'big brother is watching' reminder. Some of them show your actual speed on a big LED board, leading to individuals attempting to get a "high score"…

We have these in the US too. Lots of times around schools zones or areas where residents have complained about speeding. They look a lot like a speed sign but have a crude screen with numbers that flash when you go over. There are other signs that show the speed limit and then flash yellow lights if you’re going to fast.

Thankfully I don’t think it’s legal for speed cameras in my state although they do have ones at stoplights.

Re: Police detectors to warn mobile phone-using drivers

#43

Post by mgamache »

ehnto wrote: post #17
stephen_g wrote: post #5

This seems like a silly idea - as the article says, there's no way for it to tell whether it's the driver or a passenger, but even if there's only one person in the car, there's no way to tell if the person is actively using a mobile phone or if it's just sitting in the car and there's some app running on it that happens to be transmitting data... Then add in the likelihood that it'll pick up all sorts of random inte…

Considering the failure mode is fatal, it's not that unreasonable to expect people to turn off their phones in their cars in my opinion. If you are driving, you can't respond anyway, so just wait until you get to your destination to reconnect. Phone use is now killing more people than drunk driving so I don't feel like it's an over-reaction. Drivers had their chance to be responsible and they killed a bunch of people…

"Phone use is now killing more people than drunk driving" do you have a reference for that statement?

Re: Police detectors to warn mobile phone-using drivers

#46

Post by stordoff »

esotericn wrote: post #30
Freak_NL wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not fear of enforcement that motivates people to act on these signs, it is the moral reminder that their behaviour is not socially acceptable (not to mention illegal). For a large group of people this works. Speeding (and being a smombie behind the wheel) is something people often do unintentionally, or with a rationalization mindset of 'everybody does it' (or something along those lines). For both these cases a…

I suppose it depends a lot on your local area. Where I live there are tons of these 'flashy speed limit' signs. I don't think I've ever seen anyone obey them. 35-40mph in the new London '20 zones' is completely normal behaviour if the road permits; everyone does indeed do it, including buses and off-duty police/ambulances. It is, in fact, empirically socially acceptable (by the drivers if not necessarily by people wh…

Further anecdotally, there is one at the entrance to my village (where a 50 goes down to a 30), and I've seen _plenty_ of people slow down when it flashes.

Re: Police detectors to warn mobile phone-using drivers

#47

Post by ehnto »

mgamache wrote: post #41
ehnto wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The utility for devices in a car is obvious, no one is arguing that they aren't useful. But that's just a shame, because using them kills people every day and we haven't found a way to police it yet. Power cycling may just be a caveat of the policing methods. Driving is a privilege that is constantly abused. Perhaps we just couldn't handle unfettered use of devices in cars the same way we couldn't handle drinking and…

That sentiment can be made about a lot of things including cars themselves: "The utility for cars are obvious, using them kills people every day. We just couldn't handle unfettered use of cars. I am all for some kind of controlled way of safe use of cars, but it doesn't exist. Better to remove the temptation until it does."

Sure, but not about the downsides of removing them. It's a balance of pros and cons. Having people stop using their phones at all in a car wouldn't be a huge deal. It is only a recent problem after all. Not having the automobile would be devastating to the economy and people's lifestyles.

The pros of phone use in a car are real, but shallow. The cons are that they cause accidents. It's heavily weighted toward cons.

Re: Police detectors to warn mobile phone-using drivers

#48

Post by ehnto »

mgamache wrote: post #43
ehnto wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering the failure mode is fatal, it's not that unreasonable to expect people to turn off their phones in their cars in my opinion. If you are driving, you can't respond anyway, so just wait until you get to your destination to reconnect. Phone use is now killing more people than drunk driving so I don't feel like it's an over-reaction. Drivers had their chance to be responsible and they killed a bunch of people…

"Phone use is now killing more people than drunk driving" do you have a reference for that statement?

It was from a credible news source in (and about) Australia, but I can't find the news programmes data source.

I did however find data to the contrary for America, https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/usdot-releases-2016-fat...

So I am probably wrong in regards to US fatalities.

There were articles from insurance companies saying that distracted driving is more likely to cause an accident (fatal or non) than drink driving. I assume they were using their own data for that so I am not sure how credible it is: https://www.thezebra.com/texting-and-driving-statistics/

Re: Police detectors to warn mobile phone-using drivers

#49

Post by muttled »

mintone wrote: post #2

The article suggests that the detectors will detect 2G, 3G and 4G usage, but will recognise if a bluetooth hands-free kit is in use. This sounds like complete snake oil to me, please could someone explain if this is possible?

RF signal detectors can pick up what frequency the strongest signal in a range is broadcasting at. I had a cheapy ebay one that at a cost of $30 could pickup my phone ringing or on a call/text on its LTE frequency from about 6 feet away, and that was with it using an untuned antenna as the detector was able to pick up between 100mhz-2500mhz. I'd imagine with a much higher quality detector, a tuned, directional antenna, and a narrower range you needed to cover that you could up that distance several times from the 6 feet I got.

We also had the police employing radar detector-detecting devices 15 years ago that could detect every single radar detector on the market in 2004, and none of those radar detectors were intentionally transmitting a signal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radar_detector_detector

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