500 Million Hours
02.23.07 - 01:24pm
We Americans spend over 500 million hours per week in our cars - while making 70% of our phone calls.
The California Highway Patrol, conducted a study and found that making and receiving these calls via hand-held cell phones, were the leading cause of accidents generated by distracted drivers.
Now we have chosen to add to the distraction, by not only reaching for our cell phone, but also by rolling the click wheel on our iPod, switching stations on our satellite radio or trying to work our satellite navigation system - all on separate systems, placed in separate areas. This can then cause random scrambling as our cell phone rings - still in our purse, or reaching for the iPod after it is dropped while attempting to change songs. These two or three seconds of looking down is often all it takes for the wheel to turn, or for something to happen in front of you seen too late when your eyes return to the road.
BlueTraks is addressing the problem, by combining the uses of the iPod, cell phone, satellite radio, and GPS navigation into one unit - BlueTraks BT-211 - all controlled with voice commands, via Bluetooth communication and a hard-wired interface connected into the vehicle’s communication bus system and to the factory stereo amplifier.
When a call is coming into your cell phone, music from your cars audio will be automatically muted while the vehicle announces the incoming call to you as it displays the caller ID and phone number on a built in 4.2″ touch screen display built into your cars interface with a “factory installed” look.
When making a call the car will again mute the audio at a simple touch of the display, “listen”, lookup name if necessary, find phone status and make the call for you. The iPod is controlled via the same screen with same “play and shuffle” functions, while your iPod charges. Navigation and satellite radio are also worked via the screen.
“On average, people own their cars for more than five years and many more people own cars without integrated Bluetooth® wireless technology, which is why we’re here to help them be in compliance of the law and enjoy features like iPod®, navigation guidance or satellite radio all in one device,” says Mr. Nagy president of BlueTraks, Inc.
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