UBER LAUNCHES TEEN ACCOUNTS IN SA TO HELP PARENTS
Do you ever use your cellphone while driving? Don’t feel too guilty about saying yes — nearly 60% of drivers admit to using their phone in handsfree mode while driving.
But don’t become complacent either. Using your cellphone in handsfree mode while driving is not a perfectly safe activity, despite the impression you might be getting from laws, marketing messages and the behaviour of people around you.
Fatal crashes caused by driver distraction have not gone down significantly over time: Distraction caused 14% of fatal crashes in 2017 and 13% of fatal crashes in 2021. Given that these numbers are calculated based on police-reported crashes, many experts believe the actual number of crashes caused by driver distraction is much higher. For example, real-world crash data from teens indicates that 58% of their crashes are due to driver distraction.
I am a human factors engineer who studies how drivers interact with technology. I see a gap between what people are told and what people should do when it comes to using your cellphone behind the wheel.
HANDS-FREE CALLING
Most countires ban hand-held cellphone use while driving but allow hands-free devices.
However, hands-free devices are still distracting. Talking on a handsfree phone and driving is multitasking, and humans are not good at doing two cognitively demanding tasks at the same time.
For example, having a phone conversation in hands-free mode while driving causes you to stop looking out for hazards on the road and gets you into more close calls where you slam on the brakes than if you were not on the phone.
These detrimental effects last even after you end your call. There is a hangover effect: You can remain mentally distracted nearly 27 seconds after you finish using your cellphone. At 65 miles per hour, you’ve travelled nearly half a mile in 27 seconds.
THIRD-PARTY APPS
Third-party apps that connect your smartphone to your car’s interface, such as Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, encourage you to use your phone in hands-free mode while driving.
You can control things like music, navigation, text messaging and phone calls using voice commands and the car’s interface.
IPhone users can connect their phones to more than 800 car models and Android phone users more than 500 models. But is using these third-party apps while driving safe? Fifty-three percent of people say that if carmakers put the technology in vehicles, they must be safe. Though these third-party apps make cellphone use hands-free, they unintentionally cause you to look away from the road for dangerous amounts of time and they slow your reaction time. Law-enforcement officers would like to remind you that distracted driving is a threat to the people around you, not just yourself.
DRIVING AUTOMATION AND DISTRACTION
Recent advances in technology have made driving a safer activity. Systems such as Cadillac Super Cruise and Tesla Autopilot control your steering and acceleration in limited situations, but they don’t mean you can text at will. Though it’s often lost in the marketing and enthusiasm for the systems, you are still required to pay attention to the road when you’re using them.
Research has shown that drivers using Level 2 automation, which combines adaptive cruise control with lane centring, are more likely to take their eyes off the road.
Research also shows that watching a video or doing anything distracting while using these systems is unsafe — you stop looking at the road, and when you need to respond, it takes more time.
Some systems work to keep you focused on driving by monitoring your eye or head position to make sure you’re looking straight ahead.
If your eyes are off the road for more than a few seconds, the systems alert you to bring your attention back to driving.
This makes it difficult to get distracted by your phone.
DISTRACTED DRIVING AWARENESS
April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month. Distracted driving — in hands-free mode, using a third-party app or when using driving automation — still claims thousands of lives each year. Despite continual advances in vehicle technology, cellphone use while driving is likely to remain a challenging problem for the foreseeable future.
To discourage distracted driving, it’s important to look back to see what’s worked in the past to keep roads safe.
Modifying the culture around distracted driving as well as comprehensive education, training and media campaigns, similar to “Click It or Ticket” to encourage seat belt use, are good examples of what works. To that end, on April 1, 2024, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launched the “Put the Phone Away or Pay” campaign to discourage distracted driving.
And for all of those who drive with children in the car, be sure to model safe behavior – they are watching and learning from you.
— The Conversation. Republished under Creative
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Uber announced the launch of Uber Teen Accounts across South Africa designed to help families on the go.
The e-hailing company said parents and guardians can now invite their teens (aged 13 to 17) to create a specialised Uber account that will allow them to request their own rides with parental supervision and key safety features built into the experience.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Through their Family Profile in the Uber app, a parent or guardian can invite their teen to create an account.
The teen will receive a link to download the app, create their new teen account, and complete the mandatory safety on-boarding process. After that, teens can start requesting trips on their own.
Kagiso Khaole, general manager, Uber Sub-Saharan Africa, said teen accounts are built with transparency in mind so that there are no surprises for parents, teens or drivers.
“Whether their teen is getting a ride to an internship or heading home after football practise, parents will receive real-time notifications and can follow along with live trip tracking every step of the way. We’re committed to helping keep teens safe and getting families moving.”
Uber said there are a number of safety features embedded into the experiences.
LIVE TRIP TRACKING
To help keep parents in the know, they can follow along in the app with real-time updates and live trip tracking whenever their teen requests a ride.
Additionally, for teen trips, parents will receive the driver’s name, vehicle information, and requested drop-off location so they know exactly where their teen is going and who is behind the wheel of the vehicle.
PIN VERIFICATION
Before a teen gets in the car for a trip, they’ll be prompted to give their driver a unique PIN.
Drivers will not be able to start the trip until they enter the correct code into their app, providing an extra layer of protection to ensure teens get into the right car with the right driver.
RIDECHECK
Sensors and GPS data is used to detect if a ride goes off course, stops unexpectedly, or ends early.
If something like this happens, the Uber app will message the teen and the driver to make sure they’re okay.
RideCheck will be adjusted to be more sensitive during teens trips.
AUDIO RECORDING
Uber’s Audio Recording feature allows users to record audio of their trip directly through the app and saves files on the device, automatically encrypting them so that no one — not the driver, not the rider or parents, and not Uber — can listen back to the recording.
COMMUNICATION
Parents and guardians will be able to contact their teen’s driver at any time during a trip and only highly rated, experienced drivers who have passed local screening and background check requirements and are highly-rated and experienced will be able to receive trip requests from teen account holders.
Uber said drivers can choose to optout of receiving teen trips at any time.