Fed DOT Aims to Regulate Map Aids in Vehicles (To Include Smart Phones)

[roo_ster]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/16/business/agency-aims-to-regulate-map-aids-in-vehicles.html

FedDOT: "iPhone?  No, myPhone."

Getting directions on the road from Google Maps and other smartphone apps is a popular alternative to the expensive navigation aids included in some cars. The apps are also a gray area when it comes to laws banning the use of cellphones or texting while driving.

The Transportation Department wants to enter the argument.

The department is intensifying its battle against distracted driving by seeking explicit authority from Congress to regulate navigation aids of all types, including apps on smartphones.

The measure, included in the Obama administration’s proposed transportation bill, would specify that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has the authority to set restrictions on the apps and later order changes if they are deemed dangerous, much the way it currently regulates mechanical features of cars.
...
Regulators maintain that they already have the authority over navigation aids and merely want it clearly written into law.

Twice last year, David L. Strickland, when he was administrator of N.H.T.S.A., told Congress that navigation systems could be “classified as motor vehicle equipment.”

To clarify:
DOT already claims authority to regulate your smart phone apps because you might use them in an automobile and want even more authority from Congress.

“If you put restrictions on the built-in systems designed to be used while driving, it’s going to encourage people to use hand-held devices that are not optimal for use by a driver,” said Gloria Bergquist, a spokeswoman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, an industry trade group. “We believe that if you’re looking at a smaller screen, that’s less effective than looking at a larger screen on the dashboard.”

And the auto makers would like to eliminate competition to their built-in devices.

==============

Pretty soon DOT will try to regulate heterosexual intercourse because it may lead to distracted driving of crumb-munchers.

[Perd Hapley]

They've been going on about texting for a long time. I wondered when GPSing would also get the stink-eye. I mainly wonder about this, while swerving off the road, looking for directions to the nearest Dairy Queen.

[SADShooter]

They've been going on about texting for a long time. I wondered when GPSing would also get the stink-eye. I mainly wonder about this, while swerving off the road, looking for directions to the nearest Dairy Queen.

Right. Because video or voice-articulated navigation is worse than peering at a paper map, or straining to view highway/street signage, or the maddening nag of your backseat driver, or any of the other navigational challenges drivers have faced since the horseless carriage came on the scene...

What section of the DOT CFR governs reading a paper map while driving in your vehicle, again?

[Perd Hapley]

Right. Because video or voice-articulated navigation is worse than peering at a paper map, or straining to view highway/street signage, or the maddening nag of your backseat driver, or any of the other navigational challenges drivers have faced since the horseless carriage came on the scene...

What section of the DOT CFR governs reading a paper map while driving in your vehicle, again?

I would say that digital navigation is somewhat more distracting. But I won't say that, because you don't have to fold a Garmin.

[MechAg94]

IF digital navigation is more distracting, it is because they default them to alert you to every useless piece of information they can.  If I am on an interstate with 50 miles to go, I don't need an audible alert telling me NOT to take the exit I am passing. 

[Boomhauer]

IF digital navigation is more distracting, it is because they default them to alert you to every useless piece of information they can.  If I am on an interstate with 50 miles to go, I don't need an audible alert telling me NOT to take the exit I am passing. 

Which is why my GPS is set to mute and I use it exclusively as a moving map display.

[Perd Hapley]

IF digital navigation is more distracting, it is because they default them to alert you to every useless piece of information they can.  If I am on an interstate with 50 miles to go, I don't need an audible alert telling me NOT to take the exit I am passing. 

That is hilarious. I've never heard of that.

[roo_ster]

Which is why my GPS is set to mute and I use it exclusively as a moving map display.

this

[fifth_column]

IMO the solution is to produce better apps that accurately interpret voice input, offer instant visual recognition by the user, and/or doesn't necessitate looking away from the road.  Or robotic cars.  Or expanded mass transportation options.  Or any reason to reduce the number of cars on the roads, including massive depopulation, but that's another topic.

I see way too many people paying more attention to their phone, for whatever reason, than to the traffic situation.  IME people find driving to be a boring or even annoying necessity.  They get behind the wheel and turn off their brains.  Of course people are going to pay more attention to what is essentially an entertainment device than to the onerous duty of driving a vehicle.

[MechAg94]

That is hilarious. I've never heard of that.

On the In-Dash map/navigator in my Ford F-150.  I had to mute the voice and tone alerts to cut that.  Right in the middle of a good song and the damn alert chimes automatically damping the music sound.  I also made the mistake of asking the map to display certain resturants or locations on the map which cluttered it up so much you couldn't see the route.  I had to scale that back.

The Ford system won't let you set a navigator destination while moving aside from preset locations.  I think you can disable that.  You really can't make your way through setting up an address in the navigator and drive at the same time anyway. 

[MechAg94]

Oh well, if they regulate stuff down too much, I'll just go back to reading a good book.

[birdman]

Oh well, if they regulate stuff down too much, I'll just go back to reading a good book.

While driving?

[grampster]

My Garmin sits on the middle of the dash pointed a bit toward me, the driver.  It's part of my vision ahead, either side and the rear along with my speed and other indicators that I customarily observe as I drive.  I'm probably more aware than most folks what's going on in and out of my vehicle.  My cell is hooked by Bluetooth (whatever the heck that is, I brush and floss)  to the radio in my car so it's hands free, and I don't text.

[dogmush]

In the case of Android phones,  is be interested in how the NTSB thinks they can possibly regulate programmers even if Congress gave them the authority.

On my pioneer Navi I bypassed their stupid "you can't navigate while moving" feature before the install.  But given the market free for all that is Android apps, and the apparent interest in phone navigation good luck trying to stop it.

[Scout26]

Which is why my GPS is set to mute and I use it exclusively as a moving map display.

Wait !!!  What happened to Fiona?

[KD5NRH]

IMO the solution is to produce better apps that accurately interpret voice input, offer instant visual recognition by the user, and/or doesn't necessitate looking away from the road.

Worst I've found is the randomness of "and then" directions; it will tell me to take the exit when I'm going 70, but not what I'm going to need to do next before I get on the too-short ramp that ends just barely far enough before the intersection to make a double lane change on the 3-lane frontage road, so I'm stuck having to look at it during the merge into heavy traffic to see whether I need to go right or left at the intersection.  A few minutes later it will have a "turn right...and then left after 1/4 mile" when I'm going 30mph in light traffic.

[MechAg94]

While driving?

Of course, when else would I read?  

I have done that a number of times.  Slow down to near the speed limit and the right lane.  Prop the book on the steering wheel where you peripheral vision will see out the windsheild.  Read a sentence, then look around, repeat.  You might only read a page in 10 minutes, but it does occupy the mind on long, straight, boring roads.  

Not the best solution, but it worked for me.  Better than falling asleep.  It won't work too well in heavy traffic or winding roads.  Sometimes you just need something to get your mind on a different track. 

[230RN]

Regulators maintain that they already have the authority over navigation aids and merely want it clearly written into law.

Say, whut?

[Balog]

Oh well, if they regulate stuff down too much, I'll just go back to reading a good book.

 

[Balog]

Say, whut?

Regulators maintain that they have complete and utter control over every second of your life, they just want to see it codified more clearly.

[MechAg94]

Be glad they aren't talking about your/their money.  That is always interesting.

[KD5NRH]

Regulators maintain that they have complete and utter control over every second of your life, they just want to see it codified more clearly.

Which is why we should make sure the wall they're put up against someday doesn't meet IBC requirements, just to rub it in.