The United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that it has the legal authority to regulate cellphones that interact with cars and trucks. At a Congressional hearing last week, NHTSA Administrator David Strickland said the agency plans to issue voluntary guidelines for smartphones in vehicles next year that will be broader in scope than ones issued earlier this year. Strickland said that NHTSA already has authority under the Motor Vehicle Safety Act to regulate cellphones that work with systems in cars. The MVSA covers motor vehicle equipment.
"It is an evolving area of technology. We believe that guidelines gives us the ability to find the margin of safety and still keep innovation … We believe these systems have the ability to provide comfort, information, entertainment as long as they are done in a safe way," Strickland said in an interview with The Detroit News.
Industry lobbyists say that Strickland's remarks represent the first time his agency has definitively claimed it can regulate portable electronic devices such as smartphones in cars. Strickland claimed that NHTSA has the authority to cover phone based navigation systems when used in cars or trucks as well as regulate other applications that can be "reasonably expected" to be used in vehicles can also be regulated.
Strickland also said that NHTSA will be working with telecom industry, electronics manufacturers and application developers on the voluntary guidelines "to make sure all of these things are working in the proper zone of safety."
All this concern about cellphones distracting drivers comes as NHTSA itself said last week that the number of people killed in distracted driving crashes fell slightly in 2012, though injuries attributed to distracted driving were up 9%.
Rep. Tom Petri, R-Wis., who chairs the House committee holding hearings on autonomous vehicles, said he asked the NHTSA in a letter to confirm its authority on phones. He said he was concerned about the NHTSA taking "too broad an approach."
Strickland said long-term the goal is to use technology to prevent drivers from using a hand-held phone unless they are paired with the vehicle to make hands-free calls. It's unclear if such a technology can be developed that wouldn't also hamper passengers' cellphone use.
It's also unclear why NHTSA is using the term "voluntary" when it says that the "guidelines" will take effect in three years.
from The Truth About Cars http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com
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