{"id":159018547,"date":"2010-01-15T11:49:07","date_gmt":"2010-01-15T11:49:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=159018547"},"modified":"2010-01-15T11:49:07","modified_gmt":"2010-01-15T11:49:07","slug":"despite-risks-internet-creeps-onto-car-dashboards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=159018547","title":{"rendered":"Despite Risks, Internet Creeps Onto Car Dashboards"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/articleLarge.jpg\" alt=\"image\" \/><br \/>\nLAS VEGAS \u2014 To the dismay of safety advocates already worried about driver distraction, automakers and high-tech companies have found a new place to put sophisticated Internet-connected computers: the front seat.<br \/>\n<br \/>&#8230;<br \/>\nSafety advocates say the companies behind these technologies are tone-deaf to mounting research showing the risks of distracted driving \u2014 and to a growing national debate about the use of mobile devices in cars and how to avoid the thousands of wrecks and injuries this distraction causes each year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is irresponsible at best and pernicious at worst,\u201d Nicholas A. Ashford, a professor of technology and policy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said of the new efforts to marry cars and computers. \u201cUnfortunately and sadly, it is a continuation of the pursuit of profit over safety \u2014 for both drivers and pedestrians.\u201d<br \/>\n<br \/>&#8230;<br \/>\n\u201cWe are trying to make that driving experience one that is very engaging,\u201d said Jim Buczkowski, the director of global electrical and electronics systems engineering at Ford.<br \/>\n<br \/>&#8230;<br \/>\n\u201cBut they\u2019re totally ignoring one of the key issues of the future of driving, which is distracted driving.\u201d<br \/>\n<br \/>&#8230;<br \/>\nCharlie Klauer, a researcher at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, says motorists face a much greater crash risk when looking at a screen, even if it is just a simple GPS map. She says the overall danger for drivers will rise as screens deliver additional streams of data.<\/p>\n<p>The longer a motorist looks away from the road, \u201cthe risk of crash or near crash goes up exponentially \u2014 not a linear increase, but exponentially,\u201d Ms. Klauer said. \u201cSo when you start introducing things like e-mail, Internet access, restaurant options or anything like that, the risk goes up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Regulators worry about the developments, too. Ray LaHood, the transportation secretary, said the companies involved were on the wrong track.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe idea they\u2019re going to load automobiles up with all kinds of ways to be distracted \u2014 that\u2019s not the direction we\u2019re going, and I will speak out against it,\u201d he said.<br \/>\n<br \/>&#8230;<br \/>\n\u201cBecause a lot of this is so new, there\u2019s not a ton of regulatory testing that\u2019s required, like would be required with crash testing,\u201d Mr. Stertz said. He added that the company was also hoping to avoid legal troubles, saying, \u201cIt could be a legal issue if someone gets into a car accident and the cops blame the car company for a system that\u2019s too elaborate.\u201d<br \/>\n<br \/>&#8230;<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2010\/01\/07\/technology\/07distracted.html\">https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2010\/01\/07\/technology\/07distracted.html<\/a>oldId.20100115114907465<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LAS VEGAS \u2014 To the dismay of safety advocates already worried about driver distraction, automakers and high-tech companies have found a new place to put sophisticated Internet-connected computers: the front seat. &#8230; Safety advocates say the companies behind these technologies are tone-deaf to mounting research showing the risks of distracted driving \u2014 and to a &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=159018547\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Despite Risks, Internet Creeps Onto Car Dashboards&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"1","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-159018547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biking-elsewhere"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159018547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=159018547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159018547\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=159018547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=159018547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=159018547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}