Cell and Driver 0

Radio Time takes a look at the NTSB’s recommendation to ban cell phones. From the website:

Today, we look at the issue of distracted driving and the problems of enforcement with DAVID TEATER, the National Safety Council’s senior director of Transportation Initiatives. We’ll also discuss the cultural history of drunk driving with BARRON LERNER, a professor of medicine and public health professor at Columbia University who has written a new book on the subject, One for the Road: Drunk Driving Since 1900. And finally, CHRISTIAN GERDES, Director of Stanford University’s Center for Automotive Research, tells Marty about self-driving cars. Is hands-free driving in our near future?

Any one who pays attention knows the pros and cons. Having been nearly killed by a cell phone wielding driver who went straight ahead (at 65 mph) at a spot where the road went left, I sympathize with efforts to limit cell phone usage by drivers.

The reason I’m recommending this is because of the last third, starting at the 35 minute make, in which Mr. Gerdes describes what’s happening and not happening in experiments to automate driving. It is a plain-English description of what’s been accomplished, what appears possible with today’s science, and what appears to be a Jetsonian pipe dream with today’s science.

Follow the link to listen or listen here (MP3).

For another take, check out this episode of the Diane Rehm show. The antics of the anti-cell-phone ban guy are quite amusing. His arguments against a ban seem to boil down to, “Don’t take my toy away from me. Waaaa waaaa waaaa.”