Abu Dhabi Traffic Accidents Dropped 40% During the BlackBerry Outage

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2011/10/abu-dhabi-traffic-accidents-dropped-40-during-blackberry-outage/43784/

by obeattie • 15 years ago

151 55 15 years ago

theatlanticwire.com

culebron2• 15 years ago

As Paul Graham noticed earlier, computers became something like TV on the working desktop, smartphones are even a more danger. I hope in my lifetime I'll see something new to displace smartphones/tablets and make them look old like TV now, and be less dangerous and less addictive.

iaskwhy2• 15 years ago

Can you imagine something as popular but less addictive? I wish I could...

culebron2• 15 years ago

No I can't :) But some societies have quit drinking hard or smoking, so getting off a widely accepted addiction is possible.

todsul• 15 years ago

Isn't this a product of long commutes and sedentary living? There are only three times when I feel compelled to use my smartphone:

  * When in a train/bus/car
  * When I need directions
  * When I feel like a game of chess

Further to this, my smartphone is also useful for:

  * It's alarm clock
  * Looking up facts over discussions away from home/office

I noticed my need for a smartphone dropped dramatically when I stopped commuting. I don't have push email (on purpose) and so I don't check email every time it beeps. After a month of this, I lost the automatic urge to check email.

I would do without a smartphone except for the maps function. I could buy a dedicated GPS, but the additional features, having web access anywhere, chess (trivial), alarm, push the smartphone ahead.

Get rid of your car, don't live in a sprawling city, walk places: problem solved.

bonzoesc• 15 years ago

I'd much rather see something new to make driver-operated motor vehicles seem old and impractical. Smartphone usage by a passenger on a bus or train doesn't pose a constant lethal threat to everyone on the road, merely a threat of inconveniencing the user when they miss their stop.

nostromo• 15 years ago

Not to be overly suspicious, but it may be a hyped-up or cherry-picked statistic. The two sources in the article are the Chief of Dubai Police, and the director of the Abu Dhabi Police traffic department, who didn't give any further details; the paper itself is state run.

"Two weeks ago, Abu Dhabi Police announced a campaign against motorists who use their phones while at the wheel." ... "Gen Tamim likewise warned that Dubai Police will soon be using electronic evidence against drivers who cause accidents while using their smart devices." ... "The precise statistics for traffic accidents in the two emirates this week were not revealed to The National."

fletchowns• 15 years ago

Cities compile detailed statistics based on every reported traffic incident, I honestly wouldn't expect anybody else to have numbers as accurate as theirs for something like this.

praptak• 15 years ago

My thoughts exactly. What is the normal variance of per-day numbers of accidents in both cities?

The story shares a lot with the alleged Blackout Baby Boom, which turned out to be utter bollocks: http://www.snopes.com/pregnant/blackout.asp

salem• 15 years ago

If it is actually true, if they don't open up the data, then it's a wasted opportunity to put a solid case forward and change the culture.

screwt• 15 years ago

Possibly interesting, but without data I'm thinking more likely to be chance / propaganda.

ck22• 15 years ago

As a person who has never texted (seriously) I've started to notice an alarming number of people holding and looking at their phones while they drive in my town.

Makes me afraid to use the bicycle lane anymore.

I sure hope police/insurance companies are looking at cellphone records after accidents to fine people appropriately for this kind of behavior.

brador6• 15 years ago

Aside...but, why do you ride a bike on road? Yes, there are health benifits from the exercise and joy of riding a bike, but the negatives are pollution/lung issues and reasonably high likelihood of injury or death compared to other forms of transport. As the risk of injury/death rises along with driver carelessness, is there a point at which you would reduce or stop your on road bike usage?

ck22• 15 years ago

To get from point A to B? Gas is nearly $4 a gallon.

My town has bike lanes, why shouldn't I be able to use them?

Unfortunately they are not the kind of bike lanes with the "wake up" bump strip between the car and bike.

I also walk on sidewalks instead of a treadmill in a gym. Seems more practical and purposeful to me.

If using a cellphone while driving is proven to be almost as bad as being drunk - why isn't it as illegal nationwide?

mootothemax2• 15 years ago

Yes, there are health benifits from the exercise and joy of riding a bike, but the negatives are pollution/lung issues and reasonably high likelihood of injury or death compared to other forms of transport.

Do you have anything to back that statement up with? Sounds like FUD to me.

Symmetry• 15 years ago

Its certainly dangerous, but the benefit of the exercise is enough that bikers still live several years longer, on average, than people who take cars to work.

torontos• 15 years ago

Why haven't you texted? It's very convenient.

hsuresh• 15 years ago

correlation != causation

xradionut• 15 years ago

This weekend I narrowly avoided accidents on multiple occasions with drivers that were more than deeply occupied in their smartphones. One driver blocked a major intersection against the light while another destroyed several cones in a road construction zone. Maybe the problem was worse than normal due to the release of a new popular model?

abalashov• 15 years ago

Could it be that the outage failed to summon a certain non-trivial amount of people to venture out in their cars (for meetings, dinners, etc.), reducing the overall number of cars on the road to begin with?

ChrisLTD2• 15 years ago

Over the past couple of years I've noticed that when I pass someone driving erratically or abnormally slow, they are more often than not futzing with their phone (texting or talking). This is the kind of driving that ten years ago I would have attributed to drunkenness.

It's a serious factor in my desire to move somewhere where I don't need a car to get around.

dquigley• 15 years ago

But when you live in the city like I do, just crossing the street can be made dangerous by these same people.

[EDIT] Plus people walking and texting in the city can be just as bad when driving in Chicago when they walk out into an intersection without looking.

mikeash4• 15 years ago

People who walk and text very rarely injure or kill other people, though. I don't really mind people being a menace to themselves, but I very much mind people being a menace to me and people I care about.

ChrisLTD2• 15 years ago

I have to think that your odds of getting hit by a car crossing the street would be lower than driving an hour each day. Anybody have any statistics?

zerostar07• 15 years ago

That's remarkable, given that the roads in that country are not nearly bad. The question one should ask though is what can technology do to fix that public safety hazard?

sandieman• 15 years ago

This is why google needs to start driving our cars for us already.

mhb• 15 years ago

More detail (original article?):

http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/blackberry-cuts-made...

dhughes• 15 years ago

In my sleepy little town at any red light when traffic stops for the light (I hope!) it's as if someone said "Let us pray." and all the drivers bow their heads.

ineedtosleep• 15 years ago

Having visited Abu Dhabi for a little more than a month, I don't find this too surprising. A lot of the drivers there are insane and coupled with a cell phone, they're killing machines.

Abu Dhabi Traffic Accidents Dropped 40% During the BlackBerry Outage

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