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Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

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Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#41

Post by AcerbicZero »

jjulius wrote: post #25
dsfyu404ed wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>This sounds like a hassle for anyone trying to use navigation systems. That's a key feature. It creates probable cause to pull over a huge chunk of drivers and possibly (at the discretion of the cop/department) rake in some revenue while doing it. Screw the poors and their non-integrated GPS. I'm sure someone will tell you it's about safety but if it didn't also please the pro-revenue crowd and the pro-control crowd…

>Screw the poors and their non-integrated GPS. "The poors" can still use their non-integrated GPS, just in a safe (set your destination before you drive, pull over to adjust) manner. That's what everyone should be doing anyway.

What evidence is there that pulling over and then re-entering traffic is any less dangerous than adjusting your GPS at a stop light?

Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#42

Post by jjulius »

AcerbicZero wrote: post #41
jjulius wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Screw the poors and their non-integrated GPS. "The poors" can still use their non-integrated GPS, just in a safe (set your destination before you drive, pull over to adjust) manner. That's what everyone should be doing anyway.

What evidence is there that pulling over and then re-entering traffic is any less dangerous than adjusting your GPS at a stop light?

Someone else posted a response to a similar point, higher up in this thread.

"They aren’t paying attention and when the light turns green they may either hit a pedestrian as they hurry to move , or not notice the green and be rear ended by a driver who expects them to begin moving."

Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#43

Post by blacksmith_tb »

yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #20
KingMachiavelli wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue is that only 15 states ban using/holding your phone while 48 ban texting for all drivers. [1] This means that unless you would need a very high resolution image with litle blur to determine that they were 'texting' (or you investigate after an accident). A lot of people still have to interact with the phone itself for maps & media so the US is very handicaped at enforcing these laws. [1] http://www.ncsl.org…

> you would need a very high resolution image with litle blur to determine that they were 'texting' Bigger reason: This amounts to "set up cameras that record exactly what's on the screen of every phone that goes by", which is an utter nightmare in terms of privacy.

Hmm, if you're in a jurisdiction where it's illegal to be using your phone, I'm not sure how upset we should be about the police invading your privacy to prove you're breaking the law? I suppose you could argue that such a camera would also potentially capture the screens of passengers, though.

Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#45

Post by jjulius »

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #38
jjulius wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Screw the poors and their non-integrated GPS. "The poors" can still use their non-integrated GPS, just in a safe (set your destination before you drive, pull over to adjust) manner. That's what everyone should be doing anyway.

People who don't drive new enough cars to have integrated GPS buy a suction cup mount for their phone. It's not 2012 anymore, everyone has smartphones, nobody but truckers uses standalone GPS. I know this crowd is too high class to know what it's like but something like using your phone for GPS can be the difference between leaving a fishing stop with a warning or a ticket depending on what kinds of citations the dep…

What I'm saying is that it doesn't matter what kind of GPS you're using. Set your destination(s) before you drive, and pull over if you need to adjust them. Telling drivers to do that is not "screw[ing] the poors", as you've suggested.

Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#46

Post by AcerbicZero »

smileysteve wrote: post #32
ryandrake wrote: post #5

They don’t need new technology, just a bus. Sit a few officers in it where their vantage point is about a meter over the top of cars, drive around the highway a bit, and mail merge a bunch of citations. I was bored on a 2 hour bus ride the other day and easily spotted hundreds of drivers fooling around in their phones while driving at highway speed. Mostly texting. Insanity!

Stop, why! Aiming to catch people on their phones is a perversion of the laws because we have made it too easy to get away with driving while distracted. It used to be that distracted driving was subjective; but with dash cams on police cars, why can't police crack down on actual distracted indications objectively. All of us anecdotally can guess that someone not moving on green, going slow in the left lane, crossing…

The root of the problem is bad driving. You can be stone sober, fully rested and have your phone locked in the trunk of your car, but none of that matters if you lack the skills needed to operate a vehicle at speed. Drivers education is woefully inadequate and the only driving laws I see enforced are the ones which have a clear easy to obtain financial incentive attached for the police.

Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#47

Post by paggle »

javagram wrote: post #4
y4mi wrote: post #3

So they're ramping up the detection of people using their phones while waiting for the traffic light to turn green? Doesn't really sound like this is actually about safety. I doubt these cameras can capture the photo do a decent quality on that angle for anything but standing or very slow moving cars But I guess we can hope it will stop some people, even if there will be a lot of people caught that weren't really end…

People using their phones while waiting for the light is absolutely a safety issue. They aren’t paying attention and when the light turns green they may either hit a pedestrian as they hurry to move , or not notice the green and be rear ended by a driver who expects them to begin moving.

Sure, but it perverts incentives when a crime is punished only when it is a certain level of severity but not when it's more severe than that. For the people who are looking at their phones at red lights today, what percentage of them will stop because of this, and what percentage will say, "Oh there's a camera here, I'll wait until I'm on the highway to check my texts."

Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#48

Post by quotemstr »

ticmasta wrote: post #37
quotemstr wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you yourself drive? It's easy to make these demands when you're not affected by the resulting inefficiency.

heaven for bid we impact "driving efficiency" for something as low-priority as public safety...

Why is "safety" the most important consideration? A world that values safety above everything else is a pretty dismal world --- and it's a world without cars at all.

Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#49

Post by derekp7 »

paggle wrote: post #47
javagram wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People using their phones while waiting for the light is absolutely a safety issue. They aren’t paying attention and when the light turns green they may either hit a pedestrian as they hurry to move , or not notice the green and be rear ended by a driver who expects them to begin moving.

Sure, but it perverts incentives when a crime is punished only when it is a certain level of severity but not when it's more severe than that. For the people who are looking at their phones at red lights today, what percentage of them will stop because of this, and what percentage will say, "Oh there's a camera here, I'll wait until I'm on the highway to check my texts."

Not only that, but even for those checking while driving, how many people now put the phone down below the dash, where they really can't see traffic when looking at it, vs. holding it up in the air where they can glance back an forth (not that this is really safe either, but looking down at your lap is much worse).

Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#50

Post by maximente »

quotemstr wrote: post #29
dsfyu404ed wrote: post #21

Kinda funny how HN is normally anti-surveillance and against automated law enforcement unless you frame it as something pro-social. At the end of the day this is still a camera network capable of being repurposed for more sinister means of revenue generation at the whim of the government. If you really want to stop this behavior post a cop on the corner. His presence will prevent people from all sorts of other minor…

It's simpler than that: a lot of HN posters are just anti-car, and anything that makes driving less convenient is a good thing in their eyes.

motor vehicle accidents/deaths are a public health crisis in the US: 30K deaths/yr, $300mil direct medical costs/yr (more indirect obv.)

if you are between 18-34 in the US your highest probability of death was/is motor vehicle accident

i'm guessing most people here are anti bodily harm/death/opportunity loss due to stupidity/impatience more than anything else

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