Let me get this straight...

[KillerMuffin]

Driving while yakking on a cell phone is dangerous enough to make a sweep of legislation across the country to stop it. But personal computers in the dashboard is supposed to be safe?

What the fuck is DOT doing these days? Distractions are the main cause of wrecks. Cellular, reading, applying make-up, dogs, kiddies, spilling coffee, changing the radio station, and now Microsoft puts Windows in a BMW. Oh yeah, first it's all about navigation, then perhaps checking email and storing contact lists.

Sheesh. Someone go off and lock Bill in a room with an abacus.

 

[Tyrael]

Do you remember the commercial for the van that had a frigging TV in it? Yeah, like the driver ain't gonna sneak a few peeks in at that.

 

[kotori]

Do you remember the commercial for the van that had a frigging TV in it? Yeah, like the driver ain't gonna sneak a few peeks in at that.

Well actually, the screen pops down from the ceiling behind the driver's head. And if the kids have the headphones on, and aren't killing each other, than it might actually be less distracting.

But, this is the age old conflict--free market (i.e., add as much crap as the suckers will pay for) versus paternalistic government. Ain't it, KM? We'll have Literotica on the steering wheel before the mid-point of the decade.

 

[Calamity Jane]

I honestly believe that if I'm ever in an accident, due to being distracted while driving, it won't be because I'm on my phone. Yeah, I'm on it a lot while driving because I'm in my car a lot, and because I hate being bored while driving... but I can dial it without looking at it, and I'm perfectly capable of driving a motor vehicle one handed.

It's the kids that'll kill me. Screaming at each other... laughing and bouncing... 'hey mommy look at me in the mirror'... they shouldn't be allowed to be in cars til they can drive their own. I shudder to think what it'll be like when they're no longer confined to car seats.

Tyreal, I take my laptop on road trips with the kids so they can watch DVDs while I drive. I don't think I've ever sneaked a glance at it.

 

[MissTaken]

I recently heard a news item on a local radio station which stated that in accidents wherein distraction was the primary cause, it was tuning the radio or changing cd's that caused the highest percentage of accidents.

Computers on the dash! Egads!

 

[tortoise]

LOL

Picturing Bill bound and strapped into the passenger seat of one of the new wired BMW's as it screams down the highway while the driver is embroiled in a particularly frenzied flame war. As the rhetoric gets more and more heated, the right foot of the driver gets heavier and heavier, transforming the Ulitmate Driving Machine into a Bavarian Death Missile.

I'll leave the ending to this little vision up to the reader's imagination. You never know just WHO might be listening... <eyes darting about nervously>

 

[LukkyKnight]

Your honor, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you must find my client, Bavarian Motor Works not guilty of culpability in the matter before the court. BMWs don't kill people. Computers kill people.