ppro,
I'm happy to hear a more than reasonable response to my drunken ramblings of the evening last. Heartfelt as they were, I feel I must explain. I live in and work on a major college campus, and just driving the 5 miles to and from work has become a daily chore only because of the added exitement of dodging folks either speaking on their hand-held cells or texting. Fully 50% of the students driving on campus are on the phone, using the left hand. Making, of course, signalling lane changes or turn intentions impossible. Or at least of no concern to them. Couple this with truly poor high school drivers education programs and non-existant vehicle safety codes it makes a recipe for problems. It is not uncommon for folks in this neck of the woods to purposely disable 2 of 3 stop lamps hoping for a rear ender. I'm friends with a couple of municipal police officers and have been told they "don't have time" to ticket drivers for such "minor concerns"!
My insurance premiums would go down a bit if they found the time I think.
In all, since I have to concentrate for everyone else, it ticks me off a bit when I see it. I guess I'm just too darned old?
Originally Posted by ppro
We leave for Mars on Tuesday...
The cell phone is completely hands off. I don't make outgoing calls. Inbound calls are answered with a push of the head unit ****, come in through the stereo speakers and out through a mic on the visor. Completely hands-free and wireless.
There rest is intentionally just outside the normal angle of view. This helps with paying attention to the road. Navigation is handy but not pasted in the middle of the windshield like I am starting to see with all the "late adopters". Again, outside the angle of view when driving.
The vehicle dynamics and reverse camera screen is even more off-axis. Naturally the reverse camera only comes into play in reverse. The vehicle dynamics can be left running all the time, but for anything to be analyzed, it records up to five minute sessions that can be played back when the vehicle is stationary.
So yeah, it is a little busy in there. But once you start rolling the view out the windshield is uncluttered and all the extra info is off to the side. Getting the car ready to drive has become interesting - there's sort of a pre-flight sequence...
- clutch in, start car
- lights on (why didn't we get daytime running lights...?)
- couple blue-tooth device (phone)
- turn on GPS (optionally wait for satellite lock)
- click past lawyer screen on vehicle dynamics processor, select view
- select an iPod playlist (or continue the one in progress)
- check that Radar Detector came on
- set destination (optional GPS step)
- roll
I'd be the last one off the line at LeMans when they shout "Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!"