Open Prison Canada

Finally, someone other than me is questioning the safety of Uber's distractive technology.

Evidence of the thing I have been warning politicians about since at least July 23, 2016 on video, and at least, since one of Hamilton's local taxi firms decided to adopt computerized dispatch technologies in 2008 during my first meeting with Hamilton's Taxi Advisory Committee, is finally starting to garner headlines.

Computer dispatch for cabs is dangerous, for many of the same reasons cell phone use while driving is dangerous.

Mobile Data Terminals, whether deployed on tablets by Taxi Company A, or smartphones by taxi company Uber, are DISTRACTIVE and, thus DANGEROUS.

I tried to warn the politicians with some YouTube videos.

Like this one....

And this one

In the faint hope, that all of their phony declarations about "safety" had the slightest grounding in fact. Of course, I knew all along that "safety" was the last thing on the minds of the politicians and their bureaucratic underlings. The primary factor in determining whether to grant Uber it's desired exemptions from existing taxi regulations was politics.

Safety was the last thing on any politician's mind.

Political hypocrisy is enough to make a decent person sick to the stomach.

Now read this:

After much probing, it has now been established that Uber’s drivers cannot respond to the app - for instance, to confirm they have accepted a booking - without using their hands. The European Transport Safety Council’s “Making Taxis Safer” report spells it out: “Ideally taxi drivers should receive information on their next client order with the minimum amount of distraction using hands-free communication and not via a hand-held mobile phone”. -- source.

By the way, it ain't about "using their hands." And it is more than misleading to focus on the hands while ignoring the simultaneous necessity of using the eyes. Unless it's to press a button on a microphone, which requires zero visual involvement. I drove a cab for decades using two-way radio taxi technology, and yes, you needed to pick up the mike from time to time to give a location and say the word, "Roger." While this was going on, all of the relevant taxi information was derived by using one's ears. The eyes were reserved for driving.

The truth of the matter is, politicians don't really give a shit about you or me. And they sure as hell don't give a shit about safety.

'Hard-to-beat' distracted driving tickets shock drivers who think they're safe at a stop