Close Call: Use of Cell Phones While Driving

Recently a stationary plane on Chennai airport got hit by an aerobridge. The collision took place because the aerobridge operator was allegedly talking on the mobile phone while the aircraft was trying to align itself. Few years back a train accident happened in the US and the driver was allegedly busy sending text messages and missed out on a red signal.

The grip mobile phones currently have over our lives is quite bewildering, thanks to their usefulness and portability. Probably no other gadget in the entire human history had such an intrusive influence. And people multitask to any extent to stay 'connected', often with disastrous consequences.

Indian roads are a stark reminder of this obsession. To begin with they were anyway not meant for the faint hearted, as potholes, glaring violation of traffic rules and jaywalkers (both of human and cattle kind) heaped misery on motorists and pedestrians alike. The advent of cell phones have further endangered the lives of those venturing into these roads.

Motorists use them with impunity, with least care for others safety or laws of the land. Though occasional reports of police fining such erring drivers do appear in newspapers, this has little effect on the situation on the ground as conviction rates are too low to act as a deterrent.

It's a worrying sight to see those behind the wheels of cars and other four-wheelers using cell phones in one hand and steering on the other. Cab drivers indulge in this perilous exercise while trying to locate the customer's houses, often in narrow by-lanes.

But when it comes to flirting with danger, it is the bikers who take the cake. With handsets held between tilted helmet-less heads and lifted shoulders, they chat and negotiate the traffic putting their own and others lives at risk. It has nothing to do with lack of awareness. All this is done with a willing suspension of all common sense and smug belief that they won't be penalised. Even if that happens they will be let off lightly.

For the police catching these 'in your face' offenders is easy, but it is quite challenging to nab those who have placed their phones inside the helmets close to their ears, using hands-free devices or blue tooths as they cannot be easily detected. Bluetooth devices attached with speakers are also frequently used for talking while driving. Though these devices may free your hand to operate the steering wheel or gear stick, but the risk of getting mentally distracted remains.

There are enough studies to indicate that use of cell phone while driving impairs concentration and reflexes. Some even go to the extent to state that it is as dangerous as drunk driving. Stricter laws and more intense surveillance could deter motorists, but there is no substitute to restraining oneself at least while driving, both for the safety of oneself and others.

Also Read: Bangalore Beat

Tech-tonic Shifts on Silver Screen

The other day some TV channel was airing 2006 James Bond flick Casino Royale. Back then it was a valiant attempt by the James Bond franchise to make 007 relevant to post-9/11 reality. I remember Daniel Craig through his robust screen presence had resoundingly silenced many who had doubted his panache to play 007.

But what struck me was that throughout the movie he was using Sony Vaio laptop and a Sony Ericsson phone to get along with his business of licence to kill and make the world a safer place. It was a clever attempt by the Japanese electronics major to co-brand its products with the Bond flick.

If the producers were to make the same movie now (inclusive of pact with Sony) then Craig's baggage probably would be much lighter. He would be just carrying a Smartphone - probably the latest from Sony Xperia stable, tucked in the breast pocket of his suit and use 4-G technology to keep in touch with his boss M.

In the field of mobile phone technology six years has brought about a generational change. Those days the only Smartphone we heard of was BlackBerry and to possess that one probably had to be a higher up in the corporate ladder (a director I guess) of some MNC. Apple back then had only reached the iPod stage. The coolest thing then was to have a camera phone with an FM radio - MotoRazr, Nokia 6630 and Sony Ericsson Walkman were the top draws and the Gen-X was barely getting used to ear bud speakers and 2-megapixel cameras on their phones. Now PCs and laptops are facing the same fate as typewriters, when boxy desktops made their entry.

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Quite often the movie scriptwriters spin out stories in which the contemporary technology often proves to be a game changer of the plot. In mid-1990s I happened to see a movie Hear No Evil, starring Marlee Matlin, who had earlier won an Oscar for the movie Children of Lesser God. The movie is about a deaf woman who falls foul of a corrupt police officer looking for a stolen coin, hidden in the woman's pager. That was the first time I happened to see the 'beepy' matchbox like device and wondered what that hi-tech gadget was. It would often beep the wrong time, putting the woman’s life in danger. It was in fact pager - a precursor to the cell phone revolution.

If anybody from the current Smartphone generation happened to watch the movie he/she too would be astonished, but for a different reason. The device got reduced to a museum piece long back and they may wonder what that crude instrument was!

Also Read: Bangalore Beat