I don't think this is a particularly good idea because the first thing I'd do is switching it back one. I might miss an important call. And we have Siri and headsets to make calling while driving as secure as talking to a child while driving. So why would anyone turn the hands free functionality off and require the driver to pick up the phone and turn it on. This endangers driving, not using siri/Google voice whole driving.
> And we have Siri and headsets to make calling while driving as secure as talking to a child while driving.
Apparently, headsets do not make calling while driving as safe as talking to a passenger while driving. If something happens, a passenger in the car with you will see it and instinctively shut up. Someone at the other end of the phone won't know anything is going on and will keep talking, keeping your attention distracted. Not for long, to be sure, but when you're behind the wheel of a car, half a second can easily make the difference between life and death.
That's a good point but remember that some passengers are not that good at keeping an eye on the row (I also often talk to a driver when I shouldn't without realizing it and he needs to shut me up).
But encouraging people to use safer alternatives is better then banning (or preventing) these alternatives because some people will always use a phone in the car. Remember that the average John Smith salesman who is about to use his phone to call his costumer doesn't immediately know how to turn off the airplane mode. He might be distracted for quite a while because he can't figure out why siri is not working. And if he is in a hurry, he will certainly not pull over!
> That's a good point but remember that some passengers are not that good at keeping an eye on the row (I also often talk to a driver when I shouldn't without realizing it and he needs to shut me up).
Yes, as a driver I take it as my responsibility to shush people (whether talking via a handsfree arrangement or with passengers) when I need concentration or something unexpected has come up on the road.
If the driver is going to pick up the phone and turn it on, he should first pull of the road as soon as it's safe. Just like any other interaction with a phone.
And when he gets home, complain to the national govt communication agency, and Toyota.
Except that you can't always pull over (e.g. in the city) and most people don't do it. In a perfect world, we would not need Siri handsfree but in reality, people are just too lazy and instead of making it too inconvenience for them to do something (so that they do something dangerous), we should rather give them safer (though not perfect) alternatives. Disabling them on purpose is just stupid and endangering.
Parent wasn't talking about answering calls while on the road. Parent was referring to missing a call. If they need to have their phone on, that's completely reasonable. Maybe they're even an emergency driver. It doesn't mean they won't pull over when there's a call.
Having the phone on doesn't mean talking on the phone while driving. In fact, I'm pretty sure siri is disabled during phone calls, so this is a feel-good farce with very dangerous implications. One that's more likely to cause crashes than prevent them. Thankfully this happened in a low density country with safe roads.
> In a world where people are even TEXTing while driving, pulling over to answer a phone is what most people would do, right?
Maybe you only know completely insensitive and inconsiderate jerks, but most of the drivers I know abhor texting/calling while driving. Don't turn your problem into everybody's problem.
Sure, but the chances of crashing are rather low if you use hands-free soft- and hardware (such as siri to control the call and a headset). If you believe these things should not be allowed, either, because there are too distracting, you should not let children ride with you because they tend to ask way more distracting questions then you saying ("Hey Siri, call XXX").
