[q845712]

imo there's already a bunch of inconsistent nanny-state stuff when trying to use a smartphone as a passenger/navigator. There's things I'm not allowed to do without unplugging the phone briefly, and there's also things I'm allowed to do that absolutely require looking down at a zero-haptic-feedback touchscreen.

It seems like there's always corner cases that aren't considered (in your proposal above, what if the navigator doesn't have a phone because they're a child, or because their phone ran out of batteries? What happens when the sensors/algorithms are wrong about how fast we're going? What happens when the sensors are wrong about whether or not there's another device? What if that second device keeps disappearing and re-apparing while somebody tries to do a multiple step operation?) ... Trying to build some water-tight mechanism to keep us out of trouble but also with access to full functionality "when we can use it responsibly" is an endless rabbit hole.

IMO it feels like a systemic problem asking for a systemic solution. Whether we think that solution is self-driving cars, rail travel, walkable cities, or taxis probably says as much about our politics as anything else though.

[mc32]

I think the failsafe is to not allow anything beside voice calls if it detects movement. Phones while on motion are a convenience, not a need. Before the 90s very few people had mobile phones and they got places fine.

[Noumenon72]

That is absolutely false. I didn't even own a car in the 2000s because going anywhere meant a bunch of printed maps, bad GPS, and getting lost. Google Maps liberated me to a whole world of restaurants, side trips, urgent plan changes, and last-minute tourism. Plus podcasts, voice memos, and time sensitive texts. It kills me that safetyism is throwing out all those babies with the bathwater.

[perilunar]

> printed maps, bad GPS, and getting lost

That’s on you. Like almost everyone over the age of 50, I learnt to drive before mobile phones and GPS, and it was fine. Paper maps and street directories worked well enough. Getting lost was uncommon, and no big deal.

[Gigachad]

You think all train and bus passengers should have their phones locked because of moronic drivers?

Better option is to roll out the phone detection cameras and hand out 10 year license suspensions.

[triceratops]

> inconsistent nanny-state stuff

Your phone isn't the state.

[q845712]

lol fair enough.