美尋求讓手機在車內失靈技術

According to the on November 19, the Obama administration is considering disabling cell phones in American cars, aiming to cut down on distracted drivers and cell-phone-related road deaths。

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, the nation's preeminent anti-distracted-driving crusader, said in an interview on MSNBC on November 18 that federal officials are looking at technology to disable cell phones inside cars。

"I think it will be done," LaHood said. "I think the technology is there and I think you're going to see the technology become adaptable in automobiles to disable these cell phones. We need to do a lot more if we were going to save lives."

More than 5,500 people were killed last year by distracted drivers, and another 500,000 were injured, according to the Department of Transportation. LaHood has said it is never safe to talk on a cell phone while driving, hands-free or not, because it is a "cognitive distraction."

Incidentally, a lot of people seem to agree with this sentiment — a new poll released on November 18 shows nearly two-thirds of Americans support a national ban on the use of cell phones while driving, even if the driver is using a hands-free device. But the poll didn’t ask how people feel about government-issued mobile phone scramblers or other disabling devices。據大衆科學網11月19日報道，奧馬巴政府在考慮讓手機在車內失靈，這麼做的目的是爲了減少開車分心的司機數量，也是爲了減少與開車時使用手機有關的道路交通事故的死亡人數。

運輸部長雷•拉胡德是美國反開車分心運動中最傑出的戰士，他11月18日在接受微軟—全國廣播公司採訪中表示，聯邦政府官員在尋求讓手機在車內失靈的技術。

拉胡德說：“我認爲這件事情辦得到。我認爲現在有這種技術，你們會看到這種技術變得適用於車輛內部，從而讓手機失靈。如果我們要拯救生命，我們需要做更多事情。”

據交通運輸部表示，去年因司機駕車分心導致的交通事故死亡人數超過5500人，還有50萬人在這些事故中受傷。拉胡德表示，不論開不開免提，開車時使用手機從來沒有安全一說，因爲這種做法會造成“注意力分散”。

很多人似乎都同意這種觀點——11月18日公佈的一項新的民意調查結果顯示，近2/3的美國人支持在全國範圍內禁止司機在開車時使用手機，即使他們用的是免提裝置。但是，這項民意調查並沒有詢問被調查者，他們對政府發放手機擾頻器或其他干擾裝置作何感想。