shiva

Hands-free calls to be banned in UAE? | GulfNews.com

Must be summer.



"Hands-free calls while driving could soon be banned as the Ministry of Interior is working on regulations to limit use of smartphones and other electronic gadgets in cars"

"“Road accident data has shown us that use of some electronic devices impacts driving and that is the reason why we are working on regulations or ways that will limit the use of gadgets like Google Glass, smart watches as well as other telematics that are installed in vehicles,”"

"“We have involved university students as well as experts to develop an app that will automatically block the use of phones or other smart devices while a person is driving. We have also tried using jammers, but we are not convinced about jammers because we found that they can have adverse health impacts,”"


I dont even....cant even...

DXBtoDOH

I carpool with someone who uses hands-free technology while driving.

There's no question that the quality of his driving deteriorates rapidly as he talks on the phone. He gets distracted, he forgets the traffic around him, including drifting to below the speed limit and even drifting into surrounding lanes. Despite repeated reminders from me he always laughs and blows it off.

I'm all for the ban. Especially in this country.

Irishbeekeeper

Agreed, I have done a fair bit of research on this multi-tasking while driving thing and what is the best option available and I must admit that man was not made to do so many tasks at once. I say 'so many' because driving is not just one task, its many small tasks all rolled into one. Speed check, rear view mirror check, side mirrors check, front distance check, route check, emergency awareness, engine monitoring, road condition check, traffic signs check are all happening at the same time and one after the other continuously till the car arrives at its destination. Ofcourse over time a decent driver develops most of them into his muscle memory but throw in a curve ball like holding an intelligent conversation with another person, which involves feedback and information sharing and most of those checks go out the window. Imagine trying to see a coin on the road in front of you while you are doing a 100, you will focus so much on that coin that you will loose sight of what is looming right after it or next to it.
So yes, I am all in favor of banning phones completely out of vehicles, even the bluetooth hooked up with the speaker ones.
Now HOW are they planning to do it is beyond me. I have seen SO many idiots on the roads here using speaker phone while holding the phone next to their chins and gesturing wildly that I recommend they develop an app that will have like a speed detector built into it. Any phone that is detected at moving at speeds higher than 20 kph maybe?

DXBtoDOH

Very good post.

Driving in the UAE is an intense activity primarily because people drive so fast and so closely to one another. You do need to be fully focussed on the road and the traffic, including all the checks you mentioned.

I like the idea of an app that automatically shuts down the mobile once it's detecting you're going faster than a certain threshold.

IKnowNothing

Nice idea but it can't be done - not strictly true but it would mean shutting down the entire network on all roads and that'll never happen.

Why would you install an app on your phone that disables it? Etisalat/Du/TRA can't do it, it's pie in the sky.

Education is the only way this can be changed.

Millhouse

Will I still be able to text?

Meow

That'll be fine as your kids bounce around the car without seatbelts and you wear sunglasses with your 50% tinted windows as you drive your behemoth of a car without indicators.

DXBtoDOH

UAE government can order all mobiles sold in the country to have the app, so it'd be preloaded by the manufacturer. Just like the mosque / quran app is preloaded.

You are right that some people will find ways around it, by importing illegal mobiles or buying it abroad. But if the punishment is severe enough it should have some impact. You'll never eliminate it completely but if you halved the number of drivers on the mobile that could improve traffic safety quite a bit.

Millhouse

I've never had a mosque or quran app pre-loaded and all my phones have come from etisalat

moneypenny20

Should conversations between driver and passenger be banned as well?

martinbkk

Not too difficult to do but it needs to be at the vehicle level rather than phone I think. Would take time to filter into the system as older cars would not be affected but in time, like seatbelts it could become ubiquitous. Technically simple. In the same way your vehicle can detect the presence of your smart key in the car so it could also detect a mobile, which is constantly radiating energy in some part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Use that signal to immobilise the vehicle.

Switching to airplane mode with no calls and no data lets you start the car.

Of course this would shut down all mobiles in a vehicle not just the drivers. Hmm win win then.

IKnowNothing

Martin, it can't be done at a network level. What are they going to do, install some lead box in every car so you can't use a mobile?

Also as most cars are internet connected (whether you realise it or not), then it just won't work.

Can't be done, nothing to see here, move along now.

martinbkk

No no no, not in the network.

At the car level, same same smart keys.

Meow

When I bought a Nokia handset here about 8 years ago it has some Koranic stuff pre-loaded but that hasn't been the case with subsequent Blackberries or iPhones.


Anyway, the wording of the story is "could be banned" so it's just one of those things they are looking at and that doesn't mean it will happen. How many things have been suggested or announced over the years and never actually happen?

Millhouse

ah, the underwater hotel. A dream come true.