Kennedy Waterman - Phone Makers Could Cut Off Drivers. So Why Don’t They?

In 2013, Ashley Kubiak was checking her phone while driving, and she crashed into another vehicle, killing two people and paralyzing a child. With all of the technology at our hands these days, driving fatalities due to texting and driving are through the roof. In fact, people have started to wonder if phone companies have the responsibility to prevent such things from happening. In a recent product liability lawsuit filed against Apple, a piece of very interesting evidence was revealed: the company, along with others, has a patent for technology that would not allow texting while driving, but they haven't put it into place. It would sensor how fast the phone was moving and shut down certain functions. The reason for not implementing the technology is simply fear of losing customers. 2 members of the National Safety Council have stated "The technology exists - we just don't have the stomach to implement it" and "If you're at Apple or you're at Samsung, do you want to be the first to block texting and driving?"

This is crazy! I definitely feel that it's the phone company's responsibility to block texting while driving, especially when it's causing so much death and destruction. Cars are legally required to provide seatbelts, and disabling a phone is just about the same thing. The article was published September 24th, so the news is recent. In our day and age, technology seems to account for more and more of our problems. Before reading the article, I was very aware of all of the accidents we hear about on the news related to texting and driving. To be honest, they happen so often that we tend to not even care about them. People are literally being killed because others can't stay off of their phones for a 20 minute car ride. I think the article was written for the general public, so that we can be aware of what these phone companies can do, and why they aren't doing anything. It's important to read because it really shows how selfish the people in charge are. The fact that they'd rather keep their customers than have more people alive on the planet is shocking. This can be related to King George III taxing the colonists without regard to their feelings. All he cared about was the money and the power, not about the issues it raised. Clearly, Apple is worried that putting the technology in place would lose them customers, and they aren't willing to do that, no matter the cost.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/25/technology/phone-makers-could-cut-off-drivers-so-why-dont-they.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fus&action=click&contentCollection=us&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0