Car accidents are, unfortunately, very common today. The recklessness behind the wheel is incredibly cruel and causes several deaths that could easily be avoided if drivers were a little more cautious.
Smartphones already seem to be part of us, an extension of who we are; however, there must be an important balance in everything, including the use of cell phones. It may seem silly, but combining the lack of balance in the use of devices with recklessness in traffic will never result in a good thing. In the United States, there have been several awareness campaigns about being on the cell phone while driving. So there is already a certain amount of attention paid to this issue, but it seems that just making people aware is not enough.
In California, a collective action (PDF) was created to try to force the Apple adding a resource in iPhone to prevent drivers from using the device while driving.
Action was initiated by the Californian Julio Ceja, after a driver who used the iPhone hit the back of his car. According to him, at the time of the accident the woman was driving and, at the same time, used the iPhone. He then filed the lawsuit in the Los Angeles County Superior Court with MLG Automotive Law. The lawsuit's arguments report that Apple “has had the technology to avoid texting and driving since 2008” and that the company does not adopt the technology for worrying if "it will lose its place in the market for other smartphone manufacturers that do not limit the use".
To support the case, they relied on statistics from the US Department of Transportation, which claimed that 1.5 million people use cell phones while driving. In addition, the National Road Traffic Safety Administration (U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA) considers this practice even more dangerous than driving under the influence of alcohol.
Another argument used in the action was that basically * 52,000 * traffic accidents in California are caused by iPhones (ie, people using their cell phones at the time of the accident), as well as an average of 312 deaths annually. These numbers are scary, but considering that most Americans own a Ma device, it could hardly have other results.
The case very similar to the one that emerged in December last year, when one sued Apple for the death of her daughter, as the driver of the other car would be on a call by FaceTime at the time of the accident. However, unlike this case, action aims to pause all iPhone sales until Apple brings some solutions to the devices to prevent people from using them while driving.
The question is worrying, but if it already reaches glaring numbers, it would be necessary to measure it for all users of any smartphone, not just something done by an X or Y company.
(via AppleInsider)
