Despite Risks, Internet Creeps Onto Car Dashboards

[PeteC]

I think this is a bit of madness. Pete

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/07/techn ... od=myyahoo

[Big Boy]

It may not be as mad as it might seem on first reading. Obviously, you would need some safeguards to ensure for example it couldn't be used when the car is in motion.

My reasoning behind this has been the recent severe weather in the UK. The news has focused on many drivers who had been trapped, and many had found refuge for the night by using the internet on their phones to find the nearest accomodation. I think it could be a really useful addition, and doesn't have to be any more of a distraction than a satnav, which has been a revelation in recent years.

[STEVE G]

Certainly an internet link combined with Satnav to let you search for things you might need to find would be useful providing it could be made safe.
On my phone you can search for anything you might need like service stations and hotels from your GPS location.
And in the old days we never tried to read an A to Z on the steering wheel whilst driving did we?

[komfortablynumb]

Sorry BB i have to disagree with you.
I can't see this benefiting driving.
Surely we can do the important part of driving by looking out the window.
open the window if it is important to gauge the temperature.
The more cars become like living rooms then people will lose concentration on what they should be doing.
Driving.
Even with todays super duper european standard safety cars.
Hit a tree at 60mph whilst listening or god forbid looking at windows 7, you will problay die.
The car may crumple but your heart hitting your rib cage will probaly rip you Aorto.
Game over.
The child you hit at 30mph whilst you are worrying about the next traffic jam. Will create a fine bonnet adornment.
But die.
Imho the more that we think cars are safer and more comfortable the less we concentrate on projecting this 2 + ton of metal safely.
In the Uk and Europe we are beginning to understand that speed kills.
It is becoming as anti social as drink driving in the 1970s.
Just my opinion. No offence intended.
But don't get me started on Thai driving. Already covered on other threads.
One day they will understand that they are just wasting life.
But who are we to tell them how to die? pointlessly

[Big Boy]

Certainly an Internet link combined with Sat Nav to let you search for things you might need to find would be useful providing it could be made safe.
On my phone you can search for anything you might need like service stations and hotels from your GPS location.
And in the old days we never tried to read an A to Z on the steering wheel whilst driving did we?

And I thought it was only me

You often mention that you view HHAD on your phone (as did most of the people recently stranded in their cars). I've always wondered what you actually saw on your screen. Recently, my son has shown me HHAD on his iPod Touch. The image he sees is about this:

However, the print is a lot smaller. I can navigate my way around it, but to be honest, I wouldn't want to. Is this what you mobile phone users have to endure every time you log on to HHAD? If so, you have my utmost respect - I couldn't do it on a regular basis.

Give me dash board Internet every time.

[Big Boy]

Sorry BB i have to disagree with you.
I can't see this benefiting driving.
Surely we can do the important part of driving by looking out the window.
open the window if it is important to gauge the temperature.
The more cars become like living rooms then people will lose concentration on what they should be doing.
Driving.
Even with todays super duper european standard safety cars.
Hit a tree at 60mph whilst listening or god forbid looking at windows 7, you will problay die.
The car may crumple but your heart hitting your rib cage will probaly rip you Aorto.
Game over.
The child you hit at 30mph whilst you are worrying about the next traffic jam. Will create a fine bonnet adornment.
But die.
Imho the more that we think cars are safer and more comfortable the less we concentrate on projecting this 2 + ton of metal safely.
In the Uk and Europe we are beginning to understand that speed kills.
It is becoming as anti social as drink driving in the 1970s.
Just my opinion. No offence intended.
But don't get me started on Thai driving. Already covered on other threads.
One day they will understand that they are just wasting life.
But who are we to tell them how to die? pointlessly

If you read my first post, you will see

It may not be as mad as it might seem on first reading. Obviously, you would need some safeguards to ensure for example it couldn't be used when the car is in motion.

I think that element negates most of your reply.

[komfortablynumb]

Fair comment BB.
But i don't think it negates the whole comment.

[Big Boy]

No, I agree. It wouldn't be too long before somebody over-rode such a safety feature.

I'll never forget my personal panic when our taxi driver to Bankok pressed a button, and up popped a small TV screen from within the dashboard. A few button depressions later we were all (including the driver) watching a Thai Movie. I asked him to switch it off, and thankfully Mrs BB backed me up by saying she wanted to go to sleep.

If he had left it on, I'm such a nervous passenger anyway, I'd have had to ask him to stop and let me out.

Getting back to the OP, I can still its usefulness. How much do we miss when we turn up in a strange town? Because of the state of the Internet in Thailand, it'll be years before it could be usable.

[STEVE G]

As long as it got the internet link via GPRS it would work now; I found two hotels in Nong Ki for a friend using my phone just a couple of weeks back.
As to your question about using internet over the phone BB, it's something that gets easier with practice.
On sites such as HHAD, once you get into the forum it wraps the words to fit the screen so you only have to scroll down, not across.
As to the safety of having it on the dashboard of the car, as long as it only works when stopped it's no different to using a laptop on the passenger seat.

[komfortablynumb]

Sorry guys.
Gps a satelite dish a screen. even when hidden from the driver. Will distract them from there purpose.
Driving is a skill.
Good driving is an art.
Which few of us have
Put a screen in rocket mini bus from patriot square and bend over and do the neccesary.
In the UK even emergancy vehicles are restricted to 20 mph above the lawful speed limit as an absolute maximum. Road conditions relative.

At this time the Ambulance service does not have a legal speed limit but is adisory.
Even looking at a poorly sited sat nav will take your eye off the road for maybe 2 seconds.
No problem maybe doing 70 on a motorway. maybe a little sway.
But at 40 into a skool crossing.?
We all think we are good drivers.
But we are not.

[lomuamart]

I'll put my tuppence worth in.
Any gadget that interferes with the main aim of driving safely is wrong, IMO.
I havn't driven for years - and probably just as well. But when I did, changing the music or putting the cigarette lighter on was a distraction. One of those two things led to me wiping out a bollard in The City of London. I got banned for 3 months on points and a hefty fine. Was lucky not to lose my job.
I suppose that if you are stationery, then all is OK. But when you're moving it's a different matter.

[PeteC]

I think all of it is distracting. Even with bluetooth in both cars I find my mind wandering to the conversation I'm having rather than concentrating on the road. If you have a Navi screen in the car and a radio station starts to fade, you find yourself looking at and reaching for the small touch pad buttons to scan for another station. If you can, get a car with the controls on the steering wheel. Hit once and it scans and stops at a station without all the reaching and looking.

If you also have a manufacturer installed DVD as part of the system, they're made so can't be played while moving, unless you get it unlocked. If you install your own system like Alpine or Kenwood, they come unlocked and you can watch at any time. I've read the manuals and can't find that you can lock them if you wanted to. Pete

EDIT: Forgot to mention that I think not good for young drivers just learning to have all these optional things to do while behind the wheel. They'll get used to it all and think they're sitting in an arcade rather than a motor vehicle.

[VincentD]

I tend to agree with Pete. Anything outside of the car controls are a distraction.
When the first mobile phones came out in Thailand, there were no such rules as driving and using the cellphone. Nor were there laws on seat belts either.

I had to send my son to the nanny's every day, and got a car seat for the purpose. My single memory of having a major distraction in the car was the toddler bawling his lungs out and me trying to cradle the phone on my shoulder and my wife on the other end trying to tell me something else.

Even with a hands-free kit it was still a distraction.

I recently got a GPS as a SECONDARY navigation device. I did, however try using it on a regular route and I don't think I'll do it again.
They're only good upcountry or if you're totally lost.

Used in the right circumstances and they're great tools. But when manufacturers have to put in measures to prevent you from using them under certain circumstances smacks of the typical driver attitude these days.

As someone once quoted, 'Remove all the airbags and stuff from the inside of the car. Then go and put a big metal spike right in the middle of the steering wheel. That'll probably make them drive a bit more carefully'.

My two baht worth.

[Khundon1975]

There are dual/split screen systems on the market now that show two films/programmes at the same time.
One for the driver and another for the front passenger.
These are designed so that you can only see the film/programme on your side. I think the system shows both films which are overlaid on the same screen, but the left picture is only visible to the passenger and the right screen is visible to the driver.

If this is not a system designed to distract the driver, I don't know what is.

I used to have a hands free phone fitted in my cars but after a 2 hour drive home one night from London, during which, I spent most of the time on the phone. When I got home I realised I could not remember any part of the journey.
The next day I had the system ripped out and have never had one since.

Now when I get in the car, the first thing I do is turn off the phone and stick it in the glove box.

I have no wish to die in a mangled heap of metal and LCD screens.

The thought of surfing the web whilst driving, frightens the life out of me.

[Big Boy]

When driving to a strange place, although a distraction, it is my belief that a decent SatNav has more pros than cons. It can totally de-stress the journey.

Other advantages include:

- when in heavy traffic, it'll tell you how far to the next junction, informing your decision to overtake or not.

- on-screen instruction guides you into the correct lane in good time.