Nissan Signal Shield aims to deter distracted driving
This week Nissan announced the Signal Shield, a Faraday cage installed in a car's armrest. The Nissan Signal Shield blocks all WiFi, Bluetooth, and cellular signals and aims to deter distracted driving.
The idea is pretty simple. Place your phone in the compartment and close the lid before you start driving. The Signal Shield will block all messages until you open the compartment, at which point wireless connections will be restored. The concept of blocking electromagnetic waves was pioneered by English scientist Michael Faraday in the 1830s.
Opening the armrest restores all connectivity. This gives the driver a choice to be completely phone/distraction free for the duration of the drive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76W_gVh2OVo
Distracted Driving
In conclusion, i'm am glad companies are starting to take action against distracted driving. While this is just a prototype, I hope other companies follow suit. Here is some distracted driving information from iparts4you.
- Five seconds is the average amount of time your eyes are away from the road when driving distracted. This is enough time to have driven the entire length of a football pitch (effectively blindfolded)
- In 2015, a staggering 501 of the 1,469 fatal crashes on the road were found to have been caused by a “failure to look” as a result of distracted driving.
- A survey by Direct Line revealed as many as one in three people were found to be eating behind the wheel of a car.
