Page 32 - The Peorian Vol 3 Issue 1 Winter

32 thePeorian.com
The Present
“There is a looming public
safety crisis ahead with the
future proliferation of these in-
vehicle technologies,” said AAA
President and CEO Robert L.
Darbelnet. “It’s time to consider
limiting new and potentially
dangerous mental distractions
built into cars, particularly
with the common public
misperception that hands-free
means risk-free.”
AAA is using its findings to
promote dialogue with policy
makers, safety advocates and the
auto industry to ensure that these
emerging in-vehicle technologies
won’t lead to unintentional
compromises in public safety.
As part of this effort, AAA
has already met with safety
advocates and provided copies
of the report to CEOs of all major
U.S. automakers.
“The problem is how can you
ban a hands-free, Bluetooth type
operation in a vehicle?” Brown
said. “You can’t do it, because
there’s no way to know it’s being
done. If someone’s got their
hand holding a phone up to their
head, that’s something that can
obviously be verified. That’s why
I think this is the best option.”
Brown does not usually see
people his age talking on the
phone while he is a passenger
in their car. When he is in the
driver’s seat, however, he tends
to see people his age in other cars
driving while using their phones.
The demographic he thinks will
be most affected by the law is the
young and new drivers from 16
to 21 years old.
Nick Pacotti, a 23 year-old
Illinois State University senior
who also agrees with the law,
finds it almost depressing how
many people his age he has seen
use cell phones while they drive.
On numerous occasions Pacotti
has been concerned about driving
in the car with some of them.
To compound the problem,
most young people will not have
the money or will not want to
spend the money on systems like
Bluetooth, Pacotti added. This
is in contrast to older, business
people who talk on their phones
all day and who Pacotti thinks
probably already have such
devices in their car.