I’m not a huge fan of the government mandating anything, but now, more than ever, believe that the government needs to start mandating more safety in cars. Specifically, I think that a) all cell phones must come with Bluetooth and b) all cars should come with Bluetooth for handsfree cell phone use. People argue that it isn’t the act of holding a handset that causes accidents, it is the distraction. Well, that may be true, but I’m sure that if people weren’t holding phones, they would have better reaction time in case of an accident and be able to navigate cars better. This won’t solve everything, but the cost is pretty minor; several years ago Jeep/Chrysler announced the UConnect system for many of its newer vehicles at a cost of something like $300 as a dealer installed option. Now if this was standard on all vehicles, the cost would be lower (less labor involved in installing it when the car is open and the number of units purchased would cause the cost to go down). If we say that the kit costs $300 and someone purchases a vehicle over 5 years at 7% interest rate, the extra cost for this would be $5.94 per month. Is that a lot? No, it is the cost of a few cups of coffee.
As for the Bluetooth handsets, many carriers think Bluetooth is a high end phone option instead of a standard item. Again, the cost isn’t all that high and it would be needed to work with the cars. Furthermore, carriers (Verizon and Sprint in particular) need to stop crippling or accepting half baked Bluetooth implementations. The standard handsfree, headset, and OBEX profiles are needed to make car kits and cars with built-in Bluetooth function properly.
Would I write this even if I didn’t put my own handsfree kit in my car? Absolutely. My next car (and my wife’s next car) will definitely have Bluetooth in it for handsfree calling. It definitely won’t solve the problem of distracted drivers, but it really does help keep two hands on the wheel.
On a side note, I received my first call on my handsfree kit while driving today. It was so neat to be able to not have to fumble answering the phone (even with a headset you have to make sure it is in and find the right button and be able to keep my hands on the wheel.