ASSIGNED to Prof. Script

Are Integrated Devices Safer Than Using Handheld Devices While Driving?

Mitch Bainwol

Pro

There is no debate about whether distracted driving is a concern. It is. The salient question is how best to ameliorate it in the real world where drivers demand connectivity – and with the prevalence of portable smartphone, they have it.

Technology has transformed our society forever. According to CTIA, The Wireless Association, at the end of 2011 there were 331.6 million wireless subscriber connections – more than the entire U.S. population.

We share Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood’s conviction that drivers should not use handheld devices to communicate when driving. Looking away from the road to dial, surf, text, or navigate is dangerous. Research confirms that 80 percent of crashes involve the driver looking away from the roadway just prior to the crash.

We can put our heads in the sand and demand a behavioral shift – as some policymakers advocate – or we can find ways to make communication in car safer.

Automakers are relying on integrated systems to operates as a “safety filter” to channel driver behavior in a way that mitigates accident risk and saves lives.

Consumers are going to communicate; the only visible path to make that activity safe is to -provide a technological answer that address the visual distraction. Build-in communications systems are that answer. They rely on the cellphone passively and only for connectivity – so with the integrated system, you can lock that phone up in the glove box as you depart.

Whether it’s for communicating or listening to music or getting travel information, the objective of policymakers should be to encourage drivers to utilize the vehicle’ hard-wired system rather than looking away from the road to concentrate on a handheld’s small display screen – a screen never designed for use while driving.

In contrast - and by definition – auto displays, and other in-vehicle technologies. They’ve been in place for a full decade now, serving as the base for the National Traffic Highway Safety Administration’s recently proposed guidelines.

We know drivers are going to insist on staying connected behind the wheel. Our shared challenge is to construct policy and rely on technology that enables drivers to keep their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel.

Answer following questions:

1. What are Bainwol’s basic assumption? Do you accept these assumptions? Why and why not?

2. Suppose someone – possibly someone who was not a native speaker of English – said that he or she did not understand paragraph 4, partly because of its comment about putting one’s head in the sand but also because the entire sentence seemed unclear. Paraphrase the sentence (on paraphrase, see page 39), and then answer this question: Do you agree that (as Bainwol seems to suggest) the issue is an either/or situation: We can do X or we can do Y, and that’s it?