I believe everyone has been tempted at one stage or another and everyone does it. Every day while sitting behind the wheel in traffic, I get this uncontrollable urge to do something otherthan sit behind the wheel; that’s right, the desire to multitask even while driving has become another way of avoiding stress and road rage.
Car manufacturers, mobile phone designers and legislators should cater for this technological and social phenomenon rather than resist it- Matthew Naudi
Fiddling with the radio knobs is no longer an option and brings little relief; neither is lighting up a cigarette since I gave those up a few years ago.
However, the urge derives not just out of boredom or stress. It originates from today’s reality that I feel the need to be in contact with the ‘world’ at all times, which has become a normal way of life, especially among the younger generation.
The urge to reach out for my mobile is usually triggered off as I hear the familiar beep or vibration of a text message alert every time I am stuck in traffic in Msida (sometimes for over an hour). It’s usually my wife asking me to stop by the corner store to buy milk on the way home or my boss asking for some information on a meeting I would have had earlier. On rare occasions it is a friend who wants to meet for a quick beer.
With traffic moving in fits and starts my mind tells me the risk seems to be mimimal and I convince myself that it would take less than a minute to type a response, albeit with my thumbs.
It is interesting to see that every driver seems to be thumb-texting around me. But soon I hear a thud as the driver next to me hits the car in front of him.
There is no doubt that texting or using themobile phone in a car is as dangerous as it is costly.
However there is also no doubting the other fact that in today’s technological age, everyone feels that desire to connect at any time and in any place, including when baking the morning brownies or when driving to and from work.
Mobile phones are part of our every-minute life and banning the use of mobile phones in cars is tantamount to banning cars from our roads. I believe we have to think outside the box.
The recent Geneva Motor show (see pages 16-19) had a section on fantastic gadgets and technological concepts, but I would have like to see some solutions for this problem.
Car manufacturers, mobile phone designers and legislators should cater for this technological and social phenomenon rather than resist it.
Although it is pathetic to become totally dependent on our mobile phones, we just cannot stop people from posting acomment on their Facebook account, tweeting, or simply reading the latest breaking news alert.
What we can do is ensure that this is done as safely as possible.
Technology permitting (I believe there are no limits here) the future should provide mobile phones that will lock when the car is in motion and unlock only when the car is stationary.
Better still, we could have systems where text messages received could only appear on the windscreen and answering a message could be done using voice. Although systems close to this already exist, I don’t think we’re quite there yet.
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