I find it hard to believe they would win this. It is not only the iPhone that allows people to text. It is everyone. There accident was caused by there unlawful driving and not taking responsibility to drive and NOT text. Apple does not force anyone to text and has means to help you do so without looking at your iPhone hense Siri, CarPlay and so on. Stupidity and no common sense cannot be fixed with a law suit.
Filed at the Los Angeles County Superior Court by MLG Automotive Law, the lawsuit claims Apple "had the technology to prevent texting and driving since 2008," noting also that it was granted a related patent in 2014. Despite this, it is alleged Apple refuses to implement the technology in the iPhone "over concerns that it will lose market share to other phone-makers who do not limit consumer use."
I can imagine that there is also a patent for an octagonal tire, but it was never marketed as it was found to be impractical no matter how much better it held on hills.
Didn't this start out as a lawsuit becasue the person was hit from behind by someone using facetime? How did this now morph into being about texting? How does this continue to be about Apple specifically? Do other manufacturers have such a block in place that prohibits texting while driving, and Apple is resisting it? I am confused..
When will dumb sh** like this stop and people with the privelage to operate a vehicle do it responsibly and with accountibility if you can't wait until stop before texting, or use a voice asistant to send that text for you if you absolutely need to text someone and you are actively driving...?
The road to hell is paved with.
It's astonishing - the govt has to much control and power, it is often claimed, yet now, the govt has to take responsibility for personal choices?
I agree that ticketing and reckless driving are greatly under-utilised. I also see insurance as a key, untapped avenue for real-world consequences. A 200-400% increase in insurance would certainly provide motivation.
The problem with this lawsuit: you can swap iPhone for *anything*. Lawsuits aren't the solution, and driving while texting is already illegal. It's like blaming a hammer company for hitting your own thumb.
"The relationship consumers have with their phones is just too great, and the ability to slide under the eye of the law is just too easy. Embedding lock-out devices is the only solution."
The ultimate solution would be autonomous cars.
Except that nobody can buy one right now. And if they could, they would have to sell hundreds of millions to address this issue. Better to teach drivers to stop being complete idiots which also costs a lot less than your brand new autonomous car ...
Texting while driving (moving vehicle) should carry the same punishment as DUI.
The other day I was in a hurry and entered map location while driving. NOT a great idea. The problem for me is that Siri is not always very good, or there is a delay before response. The failure of Siri is very frustrating and more distracting than texting itself imo.
Having said that - I would not complain if a one year driving ban was automatic when busted for playing with a phone whilst driving. If intensively policed for a few months it would quickly reduce twd to virtually zero.
I understand the resistance - more government control, but this is not like seat belts or helmets for mc's. It's not about you the driver, it's about the other people you are likely to kill or maim.
Why do you assume that only the people you crash into will be maimed or die? Why are you spared?
Also, being "in a hurry" as a reason for entering a map location, breaking a speed limit or causing a crash is about the oldest and most threadbare reason drivers give for doing the wrong thing. Here in the U.K. recently, an entire family was wiped out (parents and children) on a motorway by a truck driver using his phone. I think he was choosing a different music playlist.
Ah yes, the "I am not responsible for my own stupidity" defence. This is like the burglar suing the home owner for tripping over dying a break and enter because they didn't install safety lighting.
While we're at it, why not just cut to the chase and remove any semblance of the evil that is Free Will? Apple, in partnership with big government, should remove all personal and potentially harmful choices from our lives. When we are born, through fail-safe artificial cloning methods of course, we should all be placed in a hermetically sealed, environmentally managed bubble that is isolated from all potentially harmful, threatening, or even mildly upsetting substances, organisms, and thoughts. All of life's choices should be made for us by Apple and big government with careful consideration for maximizing our physical and mental health and wellbeing by protecting us from ourselves and the inherent unpredictabily and danger of human based decision making. Please Apple, please save us from ourselves! Or pay up.
I agree that more could be done to cut down on distracted/texting while driving, but why specifically target Apple? Are they the only company that makes smartphones? The fact that this suit is targeted at one company and not all of them tells the tale -- this is a frivolous suit designed to enrich the filers with a settlement (and very unlikely to succeed until it is amended to include Google at the dead minimum).
As others have pointed out, a similar lawsuit could be filed against beer manufacturers to "lock out" their cans when the "smart cans" notice movement, or against the makers of the radio in the car for being distracting, all with the same basis in nonsense as this suit. Yeah, that would make family trips much better ... hahaha.
It seems to me that the correct approach for cutting down on texting/et al while driving is two-fold, and similar to the approach taken to cut down on drunk driving (which has been very successful): societal pressure not to do it (if your friends texts you and you know they are driving, tell them to wait till they are done driving), and stiff penalties (fines and jail time over and above the usual accident-causing penalties) when you are caught doing it. This solution takes a bit of time, but it has been clearly shown to work.
Because one person was too stupid to refrain from distracted driving, which is already against the law, and killed someone, now I must be denied this functionality, whether I might have some use for it or not. I am truly wretchedly sick of tort law molly coddling society to the lowest common denominator.
While I feel for the family that experienced a tragic loss, I hope that this falls dismally on its face. Emotionally wrought reactions seldom bring about positive outcomes, and this seeks nothing short of more a priori violence by the state to compel closing off options, goods and services to the market.
"The relationship consumers have with their phones is just too great, and the ability to slide under the eye of the law is just too easy," the lawsuit reads. "Embedding lock-out devices is the only solution."
I find this line and the idealogical mentality behind it very concerning.
How many people are still driving holding their phone to their ear instead of using a hands free device? MANY!!!! So say Apple does some kind of dumb Block. Will there will another class action for those that are passengers that now can't text on their phones anymore?
Again, how about other dangerous things while driving like the car Radio, people's eye's leave the road to look at the radio and adjust that. Or much worse, the Kids in your car jumping around and yelling and fighting and throwing a tantrum, etc. Talking about distracting. Who with deep pockets can you sue over that? Just having a passenger in the front seat. That's pretty distracting every time you turn your head to talk to the person. Maybe that person if a girl friend and she's distracting you with her hands in your lap!!! Can you sue Apple over that?
How about you catch a ride on the airplane. Does your phone lock you out then also? How about taking responsibility for your own actions,...oh wait,.. no one does that anymore.
Most iPhone owners would rather have a headphone jack than this.
I haven't used the headphone jack on a iPhone for around 5 years now. Use the adapter if you're stick stuck in the past. Still using the VHS player at home? how about that 8-track? How about that Rotary dial home phone. Must still be using the Floppy Drive.
Texting while driving (moving vehicle) should carry the same punishment as DUI.
The other day I was in a hurry and entered map location while driving. NOT a great idea. The problem for me is that Siri is not always very good, or there is a delay before response. The failure of Siri is very frustrating and more distracting than texting itself imo.
Having said that - I would not complain if a one year driving ban was automatic when busted for playing with a phone whilst driving. If intensively policed for a few months it would quickly reduce twd to virtually zero.
I understand the resistance - more government control, but this is not like seat belts or helmets for mc's. It's not about you the driver, it's about the other people you are likely to kill or maim.
Why do you assume that only the people you crash into will be maimed or die? Why are you spared?
Also, being "in a hurry" as a reason for entering a map location, breaking a speed limit or causing a crash is about the oldest and most threadbare reason drivers give for doing the wrong thing. Here in the U.K. recently, an entire family was wiped out (parents and children) on a motorway by a truck driver using his phone. I think he was choosing a different music playlist.
The point is that to pass a law against an action that will primarily hurt the person carrying out said action makes less sense than passing a law against an action that places other people in danger. If you want to kill yourself, go ahead, but you can't go and kill others through your own stupidity, kind of thing. As to your other point about being in a hurry, did you feel I presented is as a valid excuse? I don't think it is. The implication is that there are, as you point out, many things that are just as bad as texting.
I'm not saying I agree with this (other than people shouldn't be idiots when driving), just trying to provide some context and clarity.
That won't work in all vehicles.
Here is a quote from that patent: "analyzer and a lock-out mechanism. In other embodiments, the handheld computing device can provide a lock-out mechanism with modifications or additions to the vehicle,".
In other words, in order for that mechanism to work only for a drive and not for passengers, you would need a device that lets a hand-help device know that it's "driver-lock" time, as well as the whole system needa cooperation from that driver. In other words, without that, it is impossible to make that lock active only on driver's device and not on passenger's device
The road to hell is paved with.
It's astonishing - the govt has to much control and power, it is often claimed, yet now, the govt has to take responsibility for personal choices?
I agree that ticketing and reckless driving are greatly under-utilised. I also see insurance as a key, untapped avenue for real-world consequences. A 200-400% increase in insurance would certainly provide motivation.
Wow...hold your horses... Gov-t has nothing to do with that..
Not yet, at least. It is the private sector lawyers who came up with the plan...yet you still managed to bring in the "big govt" problem...even when non exists.
So, what happens if the govt has nothing to do with the case? Well, make it up, then... and the quoted person's post is the case in point.
Didn't this start out as a lawsuit becasue the person was hit from behind by someone using facetime? How did this now morph into being about texting? How does this continue to be about Apple specifically? Do other manufacturers have such a block in place that prohibits texting while driving, and Apple is resisting it? I am confused..
When will dumb sh** like this stop and people with the privelage to operate a vehicle do it responsibly and with accountibility if you can't wait until stop before texting, or use a voice asistant to send that text for you if you absolutely need to text someone and you are actively driving...?
It makes perfect sense to target the biggest player when you're trying to get new legislation passed. How much traction would they get mentioning a little guy like NextBit? On top of that this case flows from an accident involving an iPhone and a driver using it with Facetime while driving. That's just plain stupid, and I get some of the intent of this.
There's no way I can protect myself or my family from someone out on the road watching TV on their phone while driving (I've actually seen that!!), much less tapping out a text at 75mph traveling down I-4 in Tampa. Within reason other drivers should be protected from those who would cause us harm. Locking out a cellphone except for voice commands while driving sounds perfectly reasonable. NO ONE sent texts or made calls while driving 25 years ago and we could survive without it now thank you.
It's simply selfishness to assume your convenience is more important than my safety. You really cannot reliably multitask when driving. STOP TEXTING and PLAYING GAMES while piloting a car. It's only urgent to do so in your imagination. A ticket after the damage is done is just a tad late don't you think?
Comments
Also, being "in a hurry" as a reason for entering a map location, breaking a speed limit or causing a crash is about the oldest and most threadbare reason drivers give for doing the wrong thing. Here in the U.K. recently, an entire family was wiped out (parents and children) on a motorway by a truck driver using his phone. I think he was choosing a different music playlist.
While we're at it, why not just cut to the chase and remove any semblance of the evil that is Free Will? Apple, in partnership with big government, should remove all personal and potentially harmful choices from our lives. When we are born, through fail-safe artificial cloning methods of course, we should all be placed in a hermetically sealed, environmentally managed bubble that is isolated from all potentially harmful, threatening, or even mildly upsetting substances, organisms, and thoughts. All of life's choices should be made for us by Apple and big government with careful consideration for maximizing our physical and mental health and wellbeing by protecting us from ourselves and the inherent unpredictabily and danger of human based decision making. Please Apple, please save us from ourselves! Or pay up.
As others have pointed out, a similar lawsuit could be filed against beer manufacturers to "lock out" their cans when the "smart cans" notice movement, or against the makers of the radio in the car for being distracting, all with the same basis in nonsense as this suit. Yeah, that would make family trips much better ... hahaha.
It seems to me that the correct approach for cutting down on texting/et al while driving is two-fold, and similar to the approach taken to cut down on drunk driving (which has been very successful): societal pressure not to do it (if your friends texts you and you know they are driving, tell them to wait till they are done driving), and stiff penalties (fines and jail time over and above the usual accident-causing penalties) when you are caught doing it. This solution takes a bit of time, but it has been clearly shown to work.
As to your other point about being in a hurry, did you feel I presented is as a valid excuse? I don't think it is. The implication is that there are, as you point out, many things that are just as bad as texting.
Sue Apple for not implementing an automatic cut-off when driving.
Sue the car manufacturer for not implementing a collision detection system.
Sue the person on FaceTime with you for speaking to you when you were driving.
Sue your parents for not using protection when they conceived you.
There's no way I can protect myself or my family from someone out on the road watching TV on their phone while driving (I've actually seen that!!), much less tapping out a text at 75mph traveling down I-4 in Tampa. Within reason other drivers should be protected from those who would cause us harm. Locking out a cellphone except for voice commands while driving sounds perfectly reasonable. NO ONE sent texts or made calls while driving 25 years ago and we could survive without it now thank you.
It's simply selfishness to assume your convenience is more important than my safety. You really cannot reliably multitask when driving. STOP TEXTING and PLAYING GAMES while piloting a car. It's only urgent to do so in your imagination. A ticket after the damage is done is just a tad late don't you think?