Skip to main content

Novel Swedish approach to cell phone use while driving

Sweden’s National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI) is publishing a new report showing ways to improve road safety. Of note is the fact that the report does not recommend a ban on mobile phone use while driving. Instead, VTI believes that a package measures can train and support drivers to manage communications more safety. According to VTI, this will be more effective than a ban on the use of cell phones at the wheel. VTI claims that more information will enable drivers to understand when it is d
April 25, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Sweden’s National Road and Transport Research Institute (5230 VTI) is publishing a new report showing ways to improve road safety. Of note is the fact that the report does not recommend a ban on mobile phone use while driving. Instead, VTI believes that a package measures can train and support drivers to manage communications more safety. According to VTI, this will be more effective than a ban on the use of cell phones at the wheel. VTI claims that more information will enable drivers to understand when it is dangerous to use mobile phones while driving. In addition, VTI suggests that mobile phones could be adapted so only certain functions are available depending on the current traffic situation, and can warn drivers if they become distracted. The report also believes mobile handsets could help drivers to interpret the traffic situation through an exchange of information between infrastructure, vehicles and mobile units. According to VTI potential legislation should be technology-neutral and focus on reckless behaviour rather than the use of mobile devices while driving.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • IntelliDrive and HOT lanes - the next generation?
    January 30, 2012
    Janet Banner, Metropolitan Transportation Commission, and Christopher Hill, Mixon Hill, Inc., outline efforts to explore the use of IntelliDrive technologies in HOT lane applications. On 21 October last year more than 100 transportation professionals came together for a workshop, either in person or via a webinar, to discuss the potential role of IntelliDriveSM technologies in enhancing the operations of High-Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes. The discussions focused on a White Paper, commissioned by the Metropoli
  • Tech combo used to target overweight vehicles
    November 7, 2013
    UK enforcement agency VOSA is using a combination of ANPR and weigh-in-motion technology to detect and target overweight trucks on some of the busiest motorways. Overloaded vehicles pose a potential danger to drivers, other road users and pedestrians.
  • User based insurance is helping good drivers and identifying the bad ones
    November 28, 2013
    Thomas Hallauer gives an overview of Usage Based Insurance (UBI), an industry that is putting telematic devices into more vehicles than fleet management ever did. The insurance market is going through a transformation phase never seen before. Insurers have not only started to track individual cars for Usage Based Insurance (UBI), they are also using the technology to enhance consumer services as more drivers join up to these schemes. Progressive Insurance in the US has 1.4 million customers signed up to
  • New Hampshire plans for tomorrow’s communication
    August 21, 2017
    Someone once likened predicting the future to ‘nailing a jelly to the wall’. With ITS, C-ITS and V2X technology progressing at such a pace, predicting the future is more akin to trying to nail three jellies to the wall – but only having one nail. And yet with roadways having a lifetime measured in decades, that is exactly what highway engineers and traffic planners are expected to do. Fortunately, New Hampshire DoT (NHDoT) believes its technological advances may be able to provide a solution. The Central Ne