Yep. For product liability reasons. People can't help themselves and there is no way to determine if the driver or the passenger is the one working on it.

I don't have ANY problem with allowing any sort of communication to 911 at any time. If there is a reason to contact 911 that probably is ok even if driving.

I really don't see that as a problem. Very few text messages are so urgent they cannot wait a little while.

It wouldn't. It means you just wait until you stop and then you can text to your heart's desire. The point is that we may be worrying too much about making sure passengers aren't inconvenienced and forgetting the big picture problem that people are dying because they can't resist texting while driving. Since determining who is driving and who isn't is too hard, maybe the least-worst answer is simply to not allow it at all for anyone while in motion. If you've got a better idea I'm all ears but everyone so far is throwing up their hands and saying we can't solve the problem. I respectfully disagree with that stance.

Yes it would. The point is that it doesn't really matter.

Why? Seriously. "Because" isn't an answer. We can allow any phone to text or call 911 at any time if there is an emergency.

Not relevant to the whether to allow texting while in a passenger vehicle. I actually don't have a problem with allowing text messages to a 911 operator at any time just like we require phones to always be able to dial 911. (I question their utility but that's a separate issue) There probably is a good reason to allow any sort of communications to 911 even while driving. But generally speaking I cannot think of any reason why we need to allow general purpose texting while in a motor vehicle that is in motion.

Are you aware of a lot of closets that drive on the road? The discussion is for whether or not to allow texting while in a passenger vehicle. I'm sure people can come up with corner cases where texting might make sense but I cannot think of a single one for passenger vehicles.

Maybe to you but that's not the way the real world works. People absolutely do call all tablets "iPads" regardless of actual make. They refer to any MP3 player as an "iPod" whether it actually is or isn't. People don't search, they "Google".

No it isn't accurate but it is what happens. If you correct them they will ignore you. Most people really, seriously DO NOT CARE that it isn't actually accurate. All adhesive bandages are Band-Aids. All nasal tissue is Kleenex. All transparent tape is Scotch tape. All photocopies are Xeroxes. It happens. Get over it.

You didn't forget about religion, politics, finance, auto sales, TV news, real estate, and insurance did you?

The NFL is small potatoes in the making money through BS industry.

Because you almost certainly don't need the information that moment and too many people can't resist the temptation to text while driving. You'll survive without the text and as a result so will some other people.

Good for you but that doesn't establish any compelling need for you to receive or send a text message while driving. After all if it was critical they could have called you instead. I'm willing to be convinced but "because I want to" isn't a good enough argument for me given the safety issues involved.

Do you stop at stop lights even when there is no traffic? Sometimes part of living in a civil society is dealing with a little personal inconvenience to ensure safety and order. Maybe you are the responsible one (I have not reason to doubt it) but since the rest of us have no way to be sure of that you might have to deal with having to wait for that text message to arrive.

People who text while driving are every bit as dangerous as people who drink and drive. There are plenty of studies that support this. While anecdotal, I actually know more people who have been in accidents caused by distracted (texting) driving than by drunk drivers. Texting is the leading cause of death for teen drivers.

There's nothing wrong with having the extra ability but if you send a text message you cannot be certain it will be delivered. It's like posting to Facebook and hoping someone notices. Might work out but you'd be better off calling. Honestly I really don't see text messaging to 911 being particularly useful and it certainly is not a widely available service (not yet anyway). Maybe there are some super rare corner cases I'm not thinking of but I fail to see why you would text instead of calling.

You could have called them. Or emailed. Why was texting somehow mission critical here? Was it actually vital to know exactly where they were and if so, why were you not driving within eyesight of each other? That sounds like an inconvenience but not any sort of vital need. I'm open minded but that is not a use case that convinces me.

Yes really. Text messages do not guarantee delivery and hence they are inappropriate for any use where it is critical to ensure the recipient receives the message. Furthermore 911 works on any phone and there are assistive devices available to help them communicate via mobile phone in genuine emergencies.

What about them? How does this have anything to do with texting while in a vehicle? Explain to me how a deaf person can text any more safely than a hearing person in a vehicle.

It really hurts my feelings when an anonymous coward calls me names. [/sarcasm]

First off, that doesn't happen very often and it's very unusual to see that. Most people with multiple convictions get their license pulled though some decide to drive without one which is obviously illegal. But sometimes life is more complicated than one sentence rhetorical questions. In a lot of the US it is impossible to be gainfully employed unless you have access to a car. There simply is no alternative transportation available. It's easy and glib to just say "screw em" but that's not really any sort of solution to the problem. Do that and you are often condemning a person to a life of poverty which may not be an appropriate punishment depending on the circumstances. While drunk driving is serious and should be taken seriously under the law, one size fits all punishments are rarely appropriate.

I have a guy who works for me who did time in prison for a drunk driving conviction. Good person but an alcoholic who has been sober for 10 years now. He got his act together and is a reliable and valued employee. He screwed up and served his punishment but it wouldn't be right to never give him a second chance.

You've never ridden a bus have you? Plenty of people who ride busses have Apple products especially in big cities. Hell, in places like NYC it's more likely than not that people don't have cars because they are too expensive and not necessary. I went to school on the east coast and few of my classmates from NYC even had a driver's license. Furthermore I have employees who get paid $10/hour who have iPhones and some of them ride public transportation to work.

But it's awfully nice of you to paint everyone who buys Apple products with the same condescending broad brush. Very mature of you.

Then you wait until the car stops moving probably. I don't mean to be snide (seriously) but it probably won't kill you to wait a few minutes/hours to receive or send a text message.

An excellent idea and bravo to you but FAR too many people clearly cannot be trusted to be so responsible. It's kind of gotten to the point where we simply cannot trust anyone to act responsibly. My question would be do you *really* need to receive text messages while moving in a car? Is the information THAT critical? I think 99.999999% of the time the answer is going to be no if we're being objective about it.

The probably answer is that you don't bother. You simply determine if the vehicle is in motion on a road (via GPS) and disable sending and receiving until the vehicle stops moving for some period of time. I'm trying to figure out a reason why we need to care whether the texter is driving or not and honestly I'm having trouble thinking of a reason why we should worry about it. Yeah people will whine about it but we've proven that people can't help themselves so maybe a little tough love is in order?

If you can think of a good reason we need to worry about the driver vs passenger thing I'm certainly listening but I can't think of any important reason I can't wait a bit longer for my text messages.