A distraction is a distraction, whether it is spoken or poking buttons.
The skills of the average driver these days are bad enough without
adding this kind of foolishness. I firmly believe that when you are
behind the wheel of a powered vehicle, that is you whole job of the
moment, and nothing else should be occupy your attention. Maybe the
traffic around Washington DC is more forgiving, but here in NJ, it is
bumper to bumper 4 lanes wide at 70+ mph. You cannot let your mind off
the road even for a couple of seconds, let alone minutes. I am not a
Luddite, but I think that "social networking" technology has its place,
and vehicle operation has its place, but they do not overlap.
Mike
John Duncan Yoyo wrote:
On Mon, Jan 11, 2010 at 1:12 PM, [email protected] <[email protected]>wrote:
One of the bigger news stories coming out of the Consumer
Electronics Show in Las Vegas is the huge emphasis on the part of car
makers to provide drivers with full blown internet connectivity while
they are driving. Ford is pushing their Internet Dashboard which will
let drivers Tweet, to update their Facebook page, write and receive
e-mails, watch Youtube videos, search the internet, or do anything
else that they would normally do while they safely sit at a desk at
home. Critics say the auto industry must be deaf, dumb and blind to
safety issues already made perfectly obvious by drivers who use their
cell phones or other electronic devices while operating their
vehicles, or do other things that distract them while behind the
wheel. Critics are calling this a disaster in the making while the
industry says they are just trying to sell cars by meeting the
"demands" of consumers.
FWIW the big Ford selling point is voice recognition. The SYNC which gives
speech to text a whole new meaning. It will also read your text messages to
you if you have a compatible phone. I can also find songs in your iPod for
you by a vocal request. They currently have versions with a screen and
without.
www.*ford*vehicles.com/discover*sync*/
*************************************************************************
** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy **
** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ **
*************************************************************************
