I've yet to devise a gizmo that will accurately determine that the driver ahead of me is driving distracted and shut down (detonate?) his cell phone.

Why not put it to a vote?

The cell towers can determine which cell phone signal is leading the line of cars, if that phone is on a call or is texting, and which cell signals are following him. Speed can also be determined. If five following drivers text a particular word to a particular number the tower computer will disable the lead cell phone.
-- whatrock, Jan 12 2016

/ text a particular word /

Word should be "Mom".
-- popbottle, Jan 12 2016


Not only drivers. Co-passengers on the train can be a nuisance as well. And could we also disable their MP3 players, please?
-- Toto Anders, Jan 12 2016


[+] like the safety aspect. I think this should become part of mobile OS systems. There's an app for everything, but should be embedded and stipulated by law.
-- AngelEleven, Jan 12 2016


Just a few more years and self-driving cars will eliminate this issue.
-- theircompetitor, Jan 12 2016


Send through the OnStar system, so that the cars ahead can be immobilized. Then we can create total gridlock, everyone desperately spamming out the stop codes to make sure that if they can't move, neither can anyone else.
-- lurch, Jan 12 2016


// Send through the OnStar system, so that the cars ahead can be immobilized //

The idea was geared specifically towards the cell phone only. Distracted drivers who are thoughtlessly slowing down the entire pack could have their phones disabled by the cell tower, forcing them to wake up, look around, speed up or move over.
-- whatrock, Jan 17 2016


So, you're proposing to deal with distracted drivers by requiring five more drivers to become distracted by texting?
-- MechE, Jan 17 2016


Motorists who are regularly victims of distracted driving could have the send code/number pre-programmed. Quick, but not perfect.
-- whatrock, Jan 17 2016



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