There’s no shortage of devices that supposedly prevent drivers from talking or texting by blocking mobile phone signals or that alert parents
and employers about the behavior. But the Cellphone Accident Preventer
(CAP) from a trio of researchers at an Indian university takes
preventing behind-the-wheel mobile phone use to a new Orwellian level by
making distracted-driving indiscretions public – and automatically
ratting them out to the police.
Abdul Shabeer and two of his colleagues at India’s Anna University of
Technology primarily developed CAP to combat the 20 percent of fatal
road accidents involving trucks and other heavy vehicles caused by
driver mobile phone use. Like other systems, CAP jams phone signals,
using a small antenna above the driver seat, which the researchers claim
only disables the driver’s phone, while passengers are free to call,
text, tweet and Facebook at will.
But by using RFID technology,
CAP can also alert the police, the general public or other passengers
in the car if a driver is trying to discreetly check his phone when his
hands should be on the wheel. If CAP detects that driver is using a
cellphone, “The vehicle license plate information, which is already
stored in the system, will be transmitted to a receiver placed on the
traffic signal post, which in turn displays the license number in an LCD
display so that police can take legislative action against the driver,”
Shabeer told Wired. “At the same time, a warning message or sound will
be given to passengers sitting inside the vehicle indicating that the
driver is using a cellphone.”
CAP is still just a research project, with no immediate plans for
commercial deployment. “We have completed the demo system and currently
are in the process of implementing the system in the real world,”
Shabeer adds. “For this we require funding support from an organization
or government.CAP sounds like something that would probably appeal to Transportation Secretary and distracted driver crusader Ray La Hood,
although we can’t imagine it passing muster with privacy advocates. And
even the not so tech-savvy would likely quickly figure out a workaround
– like simply extending their phone-wielding arm towards the passenger
seat.
