'Texting gun' could help police spot texting drivers

RadioRaiders · Sep 24, 2014

I have some serious doubts about this... first the technology: how exactly does it accurately spot a text message? What if the guy in the car just a few feet next to you is texting? Can it differentiate between incoming and outgoing texts? If you use some IP-based chat like WhatsApp or Skype, then it can't detect that.

If you’re driving down the road in the future and you see a cop pointing what appears to be a radar gun your way, stepping on the brake to slow down might not help you out, because speeding might not be what he’s looking for.

A Virginia-based company is developing a detection gun that can tell if a person in the vehicle is texting.

According to the Virginian-Pilot, ComSonics is creating a device that picks up on radio frequencies that come from a cellphone being used inside the car. Malcolm McIntyre, the company’s calibration services manager, told the newspaper that text messages emit a different frequency than other cellphone activities. This would allow such a device to determine if a driver were possibly sending a text behind the wheel.

ComSonics already has a foot into the law enforcement industry in that it offers calibration and repair services for radar and lidar equipment.

The Virginian-Pilot reported that this new technology would be similar to its devices that are used by cable technicians to detect leaks. ComSonic’s QAM Sniffer, for example, is able to locate a leak by picking up frequencies from a cable.

While McIntyre said the text-detecting gun is “close to production,” it would still have to gain legal approval and be brought into law enforcement departments.

According to AutoEvolution, ComSonic also said at the Virginia Distracted Driving Summit this week that it is still working on a way to find who out in a vehicle might have been texting, if there is more than one person in the car.

According to the Governors Highway Safety Association, 44 states ban texting while driving. The Federal Communications Commission pointed out that research has found texting while driving increases a crash risk by 23 percent compared to a situation where a driver is not distracted.
Click to expand...

Coming Soon: When a Cop Points His Radar Gun at You, It Could Detect More Than Just Speeding | TheBlaze.com

viewfly · Sep 24, 2014

Around here on the highways, we have official green signs that say,

"Can't wait?, use our text stop, 1 mile ahead"

One mile ahead is an official rest stop to engage in safe texting.

I'm just waiting for the graffiti artists to have a field day with that official road sign.

RadioRaiders · Sep 24, 2014

viewfly said: ↑

Around here on the highways, we have official green signs that say,

"Can't wait?, use our text stop, 1 mile ahead"

One mile ahead is an official rest stop to engage in safe texting.

I'm just waiting for the graffiti artists to have a field day with that official road sign.
Click to expand...

I used to live near "Canal Avenue", the county had to send someone to remove the paint covering the "C" nearly every week. Probably would just be easier to re-name the road.

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