Everyone is connected to everything these days and gadgets rule our lives. This is increasingly true of our cars as automakers bring everything from navigation to Internet access to our dashboards. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood thinks this is a problem and wants it to stop.
The nation's top transportation official worries the proliferation of in-car gadgetry threatens to distract drivers and turn our roads into a giant game of bumper cars, and he's going to do something about it.
"Some of these car manufacturers are putting all these gadgets and bells and whistles that are going to distract people -- and we're trying to get gadgets and bells and whistles out of their hands and out of their ears," LaHood said, according to the Detroit News.
Although LaHood wouldn't say whether he's considering specific restrictions, he did say he'll be discussing the matter with automakers.
"I am going to talk to the car manufacturers and see where this leads," he said.
One of the manufacturers he's talking to is Ford, which has made packing its cars with technology a point of pride. LaHood said he and Ford CEO Alan Mulally have been discussing the issue -- via email -- and Ford agrees distracted driving is an issue.
LaHood's tirade is part of his ongoing campaign -- he calls it a "rampage" -- against distracted driving. The News cites federal statistics showing nearly 6,000 people died last year in accidents involving distracted drivers and half a million more were injured. On any given day, some 800,000 cars were driven by someone chatting or texting on a cell phone rather than focusing on the task at hand -- driving. The News says Ford worries regulators might try to regulate its wildly popular Sync in-car infotainment system.
There's no evidence an outright ban would have any impact. Just last week the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety issued a study finding bans on hand-held phones in California, Connecticut, New York and Washington, D.C., did nothing to reduce traffic accidents. LaHood says the problem lies with the cops who aren't enforcing the bans.
Photo: Flickr / Ryan Harvey
