Textalyzer
A mobile phone is almost an inseparable part of today's reality. At home, on the bus,
on the street you can more and more often see people staring at smartphones. Unfortunately,
sometimes it ends in fatal accidents.
on the street you can more and more often see people staring at smartphones. Unfortunately,
sometimes it ends in fatal accidents.
Using a smartphone while driving is not only punished with a fine, but above all, stupidity.
Unfortunately, it is not always possible to prove that the collision was caused by a person
who stared at the phone.
Unfortunately, it is not always possible to prove that the collision was caused by a person
who stared at the phone.
The United States can become pioneers in the field of testing whether the driver of
the vehicle used the telephone before an accident. It will be possible thanks to the
device named “Textalyzer”. Its task will be to analyze the phone of drivers involved
in the collision. The device is going to check the use of applications such as Facebook,
Messenger, Whats Up and as well as games.
the vehicle used the telephone before an accident. It will be possible thanks to the
device named “Textalyzer”. Its task will be to analyze the phone of drivers involved
in the collision. The device is going to check the use of applications such as Facebook,
Messenger, Whats Up and as well as games.
The creators of the device, provide privacy, they declare the device will not have access
to the user's private data, nor will it store. The only task of the device is to check if the
phone was in use shortly before an accident.
to the user's private data, nor will it store. The only task of the device is to check if the
phone was in use shortly before an accident.
Similar information can be obtained from mobile operators. After all, they "see" the
movement of the owner of the smartphone, if he does not use the VPN application.
movement of the owner of the smartphone, if he does not use the VPN application.
While an operator may answer the question whether, a smartphone was used to make
a phone call or SMSs before accident, it will not answer the question whether these
actions were performed by the driver using a handsfree or virtual assistant.
a phone call or SMSs before accident, it will not answer the question whether these
actions were performed by the driver using a handsfree or virtual assistant.
Access to one's smartphone is a total insight into his private life. Such access can be
abused. Some drivers may refuse to connect the Textanalyzer to their smartphone.
And because the device does not break the protections, it will not do anything to force
its connection to the locked phone.
abused. Some drivers may refuse to connect the Textanalyzer to their smartphone.
And because the device does not break the protections, it will not do anything to force
its connection to the locked phone.
That's why councillors from the United Stated suggest drivers who do not agree to access
the phone using the Textanalyzer should have the driving license suspended for 90 days.
the phone using the Textanalyzer should have the driving license suspended for 90 days.
Research conducted by the Motor Transport Institute shows that using a mobile phone
while driving can be the cause of up to every fourth accident on Polish roads.
while driving can be the cause of up to every fourth accident on Polish roads.
In summary - we have a problem. And probably much bigger than we think, because
in the case of a collision it is probably never revealed that loss of attention was
the result of staring at the phone.
in the case of a collision it is probably never revealed that loss of attention was
the result of staring at the phone.
- Should we fight with this problem? If yes, how?
- Would you agree to police use of Textalyzer on your phone?
- Can you suggest another way to check if the phone was used before the accident?
Sources:
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ReplyDeleteUnfortunately Textalyzer can not directly prevent people from using phones while driving. This problem can mostly be solved by people themselves. No matter how many patrols there are on the roads, but until people realize that driving with a phone is a dangerous thing, there always will be car accidents caused by that. Considering that there always will be people that do not care about rules I can surely say that this problem can not be solved completely. Textalyzer however can help police to find guilty so they can incur the punishment, which in its turn can affect peoples minds and reduce amount of car accidents. So in my opinion Textalyzer is definitely a useful device, which can make our roads a little safer and if I had to I would agree to police if they wanted to check my phone with it.
ReplyDeleteAre you not worried about your privacy? Can x-ray your phone even though you are not the perpetrator of the accident. However, I think that the awareness that the police have more and more tools to help find the perpetrator of an accident can make people fear of using the phone while driving. Perhaps this is not a good motivator, the fear of the police to put down the phone while driving, but better than none. You are right that people do not realize the danger of using a telephone and it is very sad.
DeleteI don't think that police could use my private data in any illegal way. Furthermore, I'm not a public person, I don't use no social networks for chatting, and the only thing they could find in my phone is some pictures of my cat.
DeletePerhaps not the police, but malware. Your data can be made available to public space. Not only photos of your cat (which for sure are adorable), but your location, network data and many others data that we do not think about everyday.
DeleteThe problem is quite wide, because the phone is now used for more than just conversations. When driving a vehicle, many drivers are distracted by Facebook or shopping. It is possible that high financial penalties or withdrawal of driving licenses would effectively deter drivers from using the phone while driving.
ReplyDeleteDuring a police check, the sobriety of the driver is checked in many cases. If my level of distraction during driving was also checked, I would agree. And I don't hide any secret information in my phone, so I'm not afraid that something will "leak". For such purposes I use traditional methods :)
Checking if the phone was used just before the accident is, in my opinion, far too late.
However, if someone checks whether the driver used the phone while driving, it should not be done in the same way as through Textalyzer. In my opinion, the information owned by mobile operators should be sufficient to analyse whether the driver could have been distracted by the use of the phone.
Unfortunately, the mobile operator does not have the right tools to check what the user was doing with the phone during the accident. And I can not agree with you that you do not have any secret information on your phone. You may think you do not have one, but smartphones know a lot more about us than we think. They keep following us, and write information about it. Mobile payments, conversations, geolocation. Such information is very valuable, although it may be worthless to you :)
DeleteThey don't have one? Well, it's better to create the right tools so that you can check such data with the operator. Such a tool would probably be able to be created faster than this device. Do you know how long the device has been under tests?
DeleteYes, yes, we are being tracked, I am aware of that. But I also know that anyone can have this information, if they would deem it valuable :) I wonder which new "owner" of my data will be better? Police or hacker?
I’m a person who spends a lot of time in the car. I admit that when I bought my first smartphone, I happened to look at the phone while driving in a traffic jam. Until I had to hard brake in front of the next car, miraculously avoiding an accident. People probably don’t really realize this threat. They think they are such great drivers that nothing can surprise them behind the wheel.
ReplyDeleteSince when we have applications such as Google Assistant and Siri on phones, all activities can be performed by voice. You can write an important message without touching the phone. That's why I don’t understand people who still use the phone while driving.
After the accident, would you give your phone to the police to check it? I totally agree with you that people should use Google's or Apple's Assistants, because this will allow applications to develop, so that they will be better, but not once I had such a situation that I used Google Assistant while driving and unfortunately I had to take my eyes off from the roadway, because I had to choose option in application. This happened while selecting tracy on Google Maps.
DeleteYea I think texting is a big issue, especially with young drivers, but I'm also big advocate for privacy, and I don't think the Textalyzer is a good solution. As mentioned in the post its easy to work around it, its prone to error since someone else could be using the phone, or message could be typed by Google Assistant/Sirri etc.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we should fight with this problem, even though I'm against Textalyzer, and unfortunately I don't have a better idea how to fight it.
I noticed that many applications check if you are moving on the road. An example is Snapchat or Spotify. Snapchat shows the message not to send photos while driving, and Spotify changes its appearance to make it easier to change music. Maybe this is the solution. Every application put into the app store should have a car mode that will block the use of the application or give a warning that use is dangerous while driving.
DeleteYes, we have a problem and it concerns not only drivers. People using sidewalks and pedestrian crossings are are distracted by smartphones as well.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion we shoudl act before accident even happen and to do that we need to educate the society so they just dont use their phones while driving and crossing the streets.
And if we want to detect of someone is not looking at the road we could use safety systems in cars.
Would I agree to use textalyzer on my phone? I guess it depends how common it would be. I would not like to be guinea pig for testing of this device.
For many years now, I have heard the words "not to use the phone while driving", but there are still accidents on the roads due to being distracted by the phone. I think people have already got used to these signals and ignore them. Perhaps the fear of the police and reviewing the contents of the phone would raise awareness. Also, I would be afraid of a textalizer, but I would probably use it to help the police find a better offender.
DeleteMałgorzata B.16 April 2019 at 13:53
ReplyDeleteDriving my car I see many drivers with phones and I wonder what might be so important to check it while driving. I think it’s a serious problem but fighting with it is doomed to failure. Even high fines or severe consequences wouldn’t work because police have to detect those who do it. How often are you controlled or see patrol? However if fine will be 20 000 PLN, probably more people will think twice before taking it in their hand. Textalyzer might be a solution, but it detects using phone after occurrence not before, so it’s to late. I will accept checking my phone, but I understand people who will refuse. Any trial of checking activity is insight in our private life. If you ask an operator or check logs you get some personal information too.
This is definitely a problem which should be taken care of. Perhaps the possibility of even higher penalties might slightly force drivers to not use phones while driving. It is mandatory to equip police officers with tools which can detect this kind of behaviour. I would definietly allow the police to have such control over my phone, of course I would need to have a 100% assurance that my privacy is not stolen. The only way I can think of to check if the phone was used before accident is to verify that with an operator. Maybe an inside camera installed in each car could be some kind of a solution, although there is a chance that it might be broken due to accident.
ReplyDeleteTexting during driving is very common problem nowadays which should be resolved as soon as possible if it is possible. I think that built-in voice assistant from Google or Apple should be the only option to use smartphone in vehicle. In the other hand, I don't think if I would agree with idea of installing spying tools on private smartphone. Probably, it would need many permissions like access to private data or SMS application. We won't know how application is using these data and where it sends them so I think that's a bad idea. Unfortunately, I don't have any idea how to check our phone activity just before accident.
ReplyDelete1. Of course, we should fight this problem. It isn't only car owners who should put down telephones but also cyclists
ReplyDelete(which is very common in their case) and users of increasingly popular electric scooters.
Each of them creates a great danger by using the phone while driving.
Maybe should they increase the mandates?
Maybe drastically, they must have your driving license taken away.
2. I think so, personally, I drive a car and a bicycle and I try not to use the phone while driving. It pisses me off when I pass a biker with a phone in his hand the same applies to car drivers.
3. I have no idea. As you mentioned in the article mobile operator can check calls and text messages, nothing else comes to my mind.
1. This fight will be long and no one will win. A large part of the person does not see the problem in the use of the phone while driving and just always will use it poki not invented by people any alternatives to the phone.
ReplyDelete2 This is breaking some privacy, however, will it bring a lot? it will facilitate police work, however, accidents will always be.
3. I have no idea. However, there is a lot of recordings on the internet that people are involved in accidents through using the phone while driving.
In my opinion it's really important to start this fight as soon as it's possibile because I was a victim of a car accident and it was caused by a woman who was using a phone in a car traffic. After that I'm sceptic about using a phone while driving
ReplyDeleteI'd agree because I have nothing to hide and I'm unguilty. If that's going to provide safety on road I will support this program.
All I can think of is an order of having an app installed in every phone when you are driving. The app would then be able to check if a phone was used during an accident. Having an old phone wouldn't be a good way to get away from that rule because police still can get that data from an operator whether someone was on call.
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ReplyDelete1.Yes we definitely should avoid those kinds of accidents in every way possible. This is one of the ways that I believe it can really help drivers and make us feel safer on the road. After all it forces people to either handle the phone to the police or have their driving license suspended. This way if forces everyone being more careful driving and not use the phone while driving. Cutting down on the accidents can be done really fast by implementing it.
ReplyDelete2.Yes I would agree. However I don't own a car and don't drive.
3. I'm not sure maybe use operator data to check it?
One thing worries me that it may not be 100% secure to give the phone just to be checked, what if some other data is leaked? What if the phone has viruses and infects the computer and collects the data from other users? This really worries me how secure this solution may be.
This is also my biggest worry. Almost all my life is on the phone. Even recently, I've added all loyalty cards from stores to keep them out of my wallets. If the data from my phone leaked, I think it would be worse than stealing the wallet at this point. The more I think about it, the phones have become an inseparable part of our lives and I do not know anyone who would not have a phone.
DeleteWe should try avoiding such situations, unfortunately it's a big step into out privacy what a lot of people might not like, so passing such law would not be as easy as it looks like. I even had an accident on my own because I used the phone, after all I see how dangerous it is, fortunately it wasn't anything serious. For now I'm using only car voice system what helps me to focus on the road instead of phone. I'm not sure if we're able to check data for now and not breach anyone's privacy. There could be required update for all smartphones which tracks user's activity without tracking personal data.
ReplyDelete1. Yes, we should fight with that. I often see - unfortunately, mostly women - operating mobile devices while driving. Good solution for that problem, could be google assistent. We can control mobile phone using our voice. We can only need to say "Ok Google!", and google assistent will run.
ReplyDelete2. No. My phone, like my laptop, is my really really private device. I will never share my phone with police.
3. Maybe cameras in car, but it will be run only while car is runing. Cameras without microphone.
I would prefer the police to look at my phone rather than have a camera installed in the car. As we know, such devices can be hacked and watched, every step we take. I spend a lot of time in the car and I can not imagine being constantly watched.
DeleteI am an occasional driver, so my opinion is more theoretical.
ReplyDeleteA.d.1 The system solution will not be good for everyone. There are people who have divisibility of attention - for them, limiting the use of a mobile phone seems pointless. There are also people who only see what is happening in front of the car hood, sometimes turning on the turn signal when turning. I believe that it will not be possible to ensure the safety of both groups, without harming one of them. Since I have libertarian views, I consider prevention as restricting my freedom.
A.d.2 Reluctantly, but yes. Therefore, reluctantly, because I don't trust the police as an institution, specifically the quality of police control procedures (who wath the watchers?). That's because if I had something worth hiding, I should take care of it earlier, by using a different device.
A.d.3 I think that the problem with telephone conversations while driving will be solved by autonomous cars. Until then, it's time to rely on the hands-free kit and systems that connect the phone to the car. The source of the problem is in the driver and there you should look for a solution - do not risk and do not use the phone while driving.
Yes, we should fight with this. And the problem are not only car drivers but cyclists and pedestrians as well. I constantly see people not focusing on where they are going on the street. Textalyzer might help but I am a bit concerned about privacy issues as well as potential bugs in the software. The code should be open sourced so we can verify if the app is not harvesting our data. I don't have any other idea how to check our phone usage during driving but maybe one day every car will be autonomous and we won't have to worry about such things ;)
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that we have a problem with a focus since mobile phones started to be widely used. This is one of many problems that were caused by these little devices. They are constantly begging us for our attention and reward us with dopamine shot, e.g. when someone likes one of our photos and so on. Textalyzer is just an desperate attempt to help us to focus on what we are doing in order to not harm anybody. I think it’s a good idea to punish drivers that use mobile phones while driving. Personally, I could use Textalyzer. I’m fine with that but as you mentioned there are some ways to disobey this control layer, for instance by using VPN connection. The best way to check if phone was used before accident would be software installed by operating system creators like Google and Apple. Let’s be honest, Google is spying on us anyway, but unfortunately I don’t believe that installing such software is a probable scenario.
ReplyDeleteI believe using mobile phone while driving is a very big and common problem. Usually the accidents on the street are caused by lack of attention from participants and mobile phone is one of the reason.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't agree to use Textalyzer because I believe is completely missed idea. First of all we should focus on prevention, not penalty. Also mobile phone is not the only distractor and I think we should try to eliminate all of those at once.
I wouldn't suggest anything because it's pointless and doesn't really help anyone. I have another solution, though. We already have developed eyetracking technology - why not use it? This way we can monitor if the driver is not paying attention and use sound signal to force him to look at the road. It'd work in similar manner as sealbelt signal.
I think drivers using their phones are big threat comparable to drunk driver or sleep-deprived ones. A person without focus can be a big threat for others, a loss of concentration can lead to a tragedy. I agree, that the police should able to retrieve the data from smartphone and determine, if there was usage shortly before an accident. Maybe in the future we will develop system so sophisticated that they will be able to block usage of smartphones at the drivers seat.
ReplyDeleteShould we fight with this problem? If yes, how?
ReplyDeleteOf course we should. This is the major problem on the roads after drunk driving. Human focus is very easy to distract, and especially while driving, when many things move, and you have to keep focused. So in my opinion yes, we should.
Would you agree to police use of Textalyzer on your phone?
No I wouldn't, because same data can be obtained from telecommunication operator. While this is what we all agreed for, Textalyzer is some third party tool that can lack security and I won't like the fact that my messages breached to the open network.
Can you suggest another way to check if the phone was used before the accident?
Yes, by communicating with telecom. That's the easiest way I think, and they store full billings of their clients so I think it's the natural way of things.
We should seriously look at these situations and fight this problem. We can stop the car, answer the phone or send an SMS. We do not have to do this while driving. If access to my data would be limited, I would agree. We must make drivers realize that this small thing can cause an accident and have lethal consequences. It's hard for me to suggest something else, because today's applications make everything easier. I agree with this form, it is modern and easy to improve by updating. it's a good form and we should promote it.
ReplyDeleteShould we fight with this problem? If yes, how?
ReplyDeleteYes, of course. It's a serious problem. How we can fight? By supporting development of public transport, autonomous cars and systems that prevent cars from crashing into each other. Driver - human is the weakest point in every car. People are getting constantly distracted, they don't want to obey the rules, they are driving recklessly. If you can't change people or educate them to do better you remove the dangerous tools from their hands.
Would you agree to police use of Textalyzer on your phone? Absolutely not. It's a huge infringement of my privacy. Such ideas are not acceptable in any shape or form. With every idea like this one we are lowering the value of our privacy, letting big companies, government further into our data. Absolutely awful idea.
Can you suggest another way to check if the phone was used before the accident?
I don't really see a way that would be safe for my privacy so, no.
Of course we should fight with that problem, cause people are beeing killed in car accidents! For me best solution for fightning with that is helping people focus on road while texting. Good idea would be to add to cars some kind of sencors when driver attention is urgent. Then it could be good to block users screens.
ReplyDeleteI would not let police use of Textalyzer on my phone. Anykind of that goverment would be used for destroing our privacy.
The best way would be to track driver eye motion. It would prove if driver didn't payed attention to road.
I think that the first question is not even necessary because it's a huge problem not only in the car. I'm trying to move around the city on the bike as much as possible and it's a way more of a problem that I expected few years back. Pedestrians and also mentioned above drivers are totally brained off while traveling with nose in their smartphones. Not once or twice I was near crash because someone totally switched off from reality entered my way. But answering on your second question isn't so simple. It's quite hard to get some universal solution of that problem. I think that whole society should be more aware of the problem. Never in a human history we don't have to deal with it from obvious reason. It's really complex problem with different solution for different group of people (including 'working' education at school as well).
ReplyDeleteGetting to my personal feeling about control - if I don't have to I won't let check my phone to some 'random' PO but I don't know if it's not necessary these days. Also, similar to above - it's not the easiest to declare in a few minutes thought.
I'm a driver for many years now and I remember that problem mentioned in the article was an issue long before smartphone era. I could even see people reading a book while driving ... imagine that! To me any kind of distracion in a car can be a cause of acciden, so we should definitely try and fight it, but im not sure how.
ReplyDeleteI always find it amusing how we perseive USA as a land of freedom, when in fact it's completely the oposite. This is another take on our liberty, 'we promise that your data will remain private' is not very convincing. I can see that mechanism being aboused in even simples cullet just to gain access to certain individual phone.
What we could measure instead is maybe the data package usage that is being send of the device, if the phone wasn't used it should at most sedn on localisation data, that data could be acquired with cell phone provider.
Nowadays, many people are distracted by using smartphones not even on the roads. The problem appeared a couple of years ago and it's still growing. As a first step, in my opinion people should be educated (maybe with some example of accidents made by smartphone using while driving) so they could see consequences and might avoid similar situations in their lives. Also, changing law might be necessary here, as it's really common problem, especially in Warsaw.
ReplyDeleteWould you agree to police use of Textalyzer on your phone?
Not sure if I would agree to use Textalyzer on my phone by police, as it could be a first step to install another apps on our phones, e.g. to checking our location or anything else. So, idea is brilliant but I'm really afraid about our privacy here.
How to check it if smartphone was used before accidents? Maybe some system in the cars can check it. Probably if Textalyser app would be used, then another blocking app might appear, so it's difficult to find a good solution here.
1. Should we fight with this problem? If yes, how?
ReplyDelete2. Would you agree to police use of Textalyzer on your phone?
3. Can you suggest another way to check if the phone was used before the accident?
1. I think it is obvious we should. Automatic textalyzers seems to be good solution in XXI century. Beside this there should be carried out variety of campaigns about the subject. People should pay more attention to safety on roads.
2. Yes of course.
3. Maybe some AI algorithm observing the driver through a camera? :D Or there could be some embedded features in smartphones that would turn off some functions in direct proximity of the driver seat...
Of course, we should! Every day I see a lot of drivers who use their phone while driving. The easiest way that can help reduce this problem is to increase penalties. High fines and especially temporary loss of driving license may cause drivers to think before they use their phones while driving. Another way to reduce this problem is to use modern technology, but unfortunately Textalyzer, in my opinion, does not seem to be good enough. I would not agree that the police could install Textalyzer on my smartphone. The reason for this is that the application does not recognize the situation when I use the smartphone in a special car holder. Using the smartphone in a car holder does not differ from using, for example, navigation built into the car infotainment system. There is an obvious way to check if the phone was used before the accident, simply record the interior of the car. This would not only answer the questing if the phone was used before the accident, but also if it was used in a proper and consistent with the law way.
ReplyDeleteTextalayzer seems to be great app to check if driver is using phone while driving. Like on-board car computer, when you are driving you cannot change or check anything at car settings (at mine I can't even change time on clock). In my opinion, our phones should have default application like this to fight with using phone while driving.
ReplyDeleteFrom my experience I know how fast you can make accident, because I saw accident that was caused by using phone at car.
Seriously, nowadays almost all of our apps in phones has access to location, so it's really simple to make this happen just by law or something.
I agree, that we should fight this problem, but only by increasing awareness. I would definitely not agree to install such application on my phone. Technically this problem could be resolved differently - by a law regulation, like GDPR. Not all phones are on Android or iOS. Every mobile OS would have to implement logger for tracking usage and by analysing it, the proofs could be found in case of accident. Also there should be exceptions, for example for GPS usage, but all this log idea makes no sense, because such log should also be implemented for dealing with your radio or AC knobs... and after everyone dies, who will tell who was using the phone - did passenger help the driver or the naughty driver did this himslef?
ReplyDeleteWe definitely should improve our safety on roads and every device or idea need to be consider in order to lower crash percentage. In my opinion problem with the Textalyzer is that it can't verify if driver was using phone remotely or not. I completely agree that all usage of phones should be suspended while driving but remote call might be consider as an exception. Operator at all times is aware of location of device if localization is turn on. My idea would be to create law that apply blocking phone by operator while user is driving but I'm sure everyone will lose their mind and say that such rule is an assassination for their freedom. Personally I wouldn't mind using the Textanalyzer or even having my phone blocked with exceptions for such applications as Google maps. Another way to check if phone was used before accident could be app that check at what hour and for how long screen was used.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, but I think not only drivers are distracted by electronic devices during the drive. Pedestrians, cyclists are usually wearing headphones and pretty notoriously do not pay attention on what is going on the road. As regards drivers using phones during drive, I think they should be punished severely (with a quite a big fines), but this idea with tracking all of the internet activities does not appeal to me. These days goverments really like to control more and more domains of our lives and take every occasion to expand such control (also under the pretences of ensuring the safety on roads). Instead, I believe the best way of reducing the number of accidents caused by distracted drivers is to their proper education. They should be aware that full concentration during drive is extremely important. What is reasurring, I think more and more drivers gain such awareness year by year.
ReplyDelete