Text message help required

[domhnall]

Fair enough. As I said before though, talking to the car is less distracting than talking to a person. Do you draw the line at talking to passengers too?

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[vRSAnt]

Is that an opinion or a fact when you say trying to control your car via voice is less distracting that a person ? How do you know that to claim that ?

How distracting exactly is it ? How distracted do you let yourself become in dealing with your technology over driving ?

That is only really a question you can answer at the time of using that device - I would go so far as direct tests would be needed to really work out how much this is.

 

I think we all have to be honest about our driving and accept that we sometimes aren't as good as we think we are. I am not excepted from this and just lecturing you, I can accept I find myself being very easily distracted if I let external factors get in the way of my direct driving, that is why I'm being honest about it.

 

Yes in answer to your question I don't like to have conversations in the car exactly because they are a source of distraction. Who is to say exactly how distracting, it may not be as much as taking your eyes off the road ( although many do).

 

A good "pillion" or passenger should know not to treat a car like a drop-in cafe and know when to shut up.

If they have observations on the road, whats coming up or the route, thats great and relevant. If its banter it definitely should be something people ought to aim to minimise to avoid safety issues, absolutely.

 

I personally think you should aim to reduce the use of both pillion chats, or voice activated chatting, and keep your eyes, and ears, on the road.

[domhnall]

well the most the car demand of you is yes or no. A person conversing with you will most likely demand more interaction than that. Listening to the radio is also likely to prove distracting.

[vRSAnt]

What do you mean ? Yes or no ? Pedal flat out or not ?  Go or stop ? God that's a very scary interpretation of driving if that's your concept of it. I suggest you try some other forms of transport besides your cage to balance out your opinions and it might scare you into a more balanced viewpoint than that.

 

No one is ever going to convince me that most drivers are THAT competent that they have so much % free cpu time to do other things besides driving - in my opinion that is an accident waiting to happen.

 

Stats confirm that actually human beings are pretty lousy at these kind of things, and have accidents frequently, thats why planes are so reliable - they are largely kept in the air nowadays by hundreds of automated safety systems and auto pilots, but where human interaction IS required the pilots have 1000's of hours of training to support them.

 

You can be thankful that the pilot won't be texting his mates etc which is I guess why flying is statistically so safe. Driving is statistically not and "text integration" certainly ain't gonna make it any better IMO.

[timbox]

Im now thinking about this whole thing differently, and you know what, vRSAnt may have a very good point here. Im guessing vRSAnt is a biker too? Yes? The word pillion caught my attention. Im off to have a good think about all this. Thanks for prodding my conscience.

[domhnall]

What do you mean ? Yes or no ? Pedal flat out or not ? Go or stop ? God that's a very scary interpretation of driving if that's your concept of it. I suggest you try some other forms of transport besides your cage to balance out your opinions and it might scare you into a more balanced viewpoint than that.

No one is ever going to convince me that most drivers are THAT competent that they have so much % free cpu time to do other things besides driving - in my opinion that is an accident waiting to happen.

Stats confirm that actually human beings are pretty lousy at these kind of things, and have accidents frequently, thats why planes are so reliable - they are largely kept in the air nowadays by hundreds of automated safety systems and auto pilots, but where human interaction IS required the pilots have 1000's of hours of training to support them.

You can be thankful that the pilot won't be texting his mates etc which is I guess why flying is statistically so safe. Driving is statistically not and "text integration" certainly ain't gonna make it any better IMO.

All the car does in terms of texts is say "new text received do you want to hear it?" yes or no is all that's needed.

Do you want to reply? Yes or no. If you send a reply again you say it. You never take your eyes off the road nor your hands off the controls.

If that's dangerous then frankly so is speaking to passengers, listening to the radio etc.

Are you seriously suggesting we ban in car entertainment and conversation? Really?

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[vRSAnt]

Why are you seem so angry and trying to defend so hard? Not that long ago you wouldn't even have had access to these "aids" and sounds like you are defending it do the death.

 

I was just stating that all these things can have an impact on your (read:anyones) driving ability, no one is (despite what they think) a driving god, and anything can distract them. Maybe a little, maybe a lot. Who knows until/if you have an accident due to poor care.

 

(by the way you are right about at least clarifying that all things can be distracting to a driver, yes that is possible)

I don't know you, or the next person in the street using these things, to judge how well you, or anyone else can deal with distractions.

 

So yes, it does worry me that more and more things come around to distract drivers. There are also meant to be so called safety systems intended to presumably balance that out but when we get to the last pedestrian casualty ever reported then I will believe that has impacted enough to make any sense.

 

Who said anything about banning anything? I was just stating an opinion that I think drivers aren't as good as they actually think they are and (generally speaking) due to that unfortunately means that as further things come out to distract drivers, because of course they attract people and sell/make money.

That doesn't mean they are indepensable and necessary IMO.

 

Its only really the idiots we have to worry about, but how to tell an idiot from a good driver nowadays.

You may take in your stride with a nice cage around you but I can assure you the issue will become more relevant if you try mixing different types of transport.

I'd recommend you try this - and I actually think it should be a mandatory part of the test nowadays - with so many cars and so many driving badly/ dangerously.

 

When you are sitting vulnerable on a bike or bicycle or pedestrian and you see a car come past barely paying attention (or not at all) risking your own personal safety, you might see things differently.

[JD52]

domhnall, on 25 Mar 2016 - 09:01, said:

All the car does in terms of texts is say "new text received do you want to hear it?" yes or no is all that's needed.

Do you want to reply? Yes or no. If you send a reply again you say it. You never take your eyes off the road nor your hands off the controls.

If that's dangerous then frankly so is speaking to passengers, listening to the radio etc.

Are you seriously suggesting we ban in car entertainment and conversation? Really?

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I used to get the question about reading texts but recently the feature has stopped, so I don't know when a text arrives.

 

Do you know if this is a car setting or a phone setting that stops the feature working?

 

TIA

[domhnall]

Why are you seem so angry and trying to defend so hard? Not that long ago you wouldn't even have had access to these "aids" and sounds like you are defending it do the death.

I was just stating that all these things can have an impact on your (read:anyones) driving ability, no one is (despite what they think) a driving god, and anything can distract them. Maybe a little, maybe a lot. Who knows until/if you have an accident due to poor care.

(by the way you are right about at least clarifying that all things can be distracting to a driver, yes that is possible)

I don't know you, or the next person in the street using these things, to judge how well you, or anyone else can deal with distractions.

So yes, it does worry me that more and more things come around to distract drivers. There are also meant to be so called safety systems intended to presumably balance that out but when we get to the last pedestrian casualty ever reported then I will believe that has impacted enough to make any sense.

Who said anything about banning anything? I was just stating an opinion that I think drivers aren't as good as they actually think they are and (generally speaking) due to that unfortunately means that as further things come out to distract drivers, because of course they attract people and sell/make money.

That doesn't mean they are indepensable and necessary IMO.

Its only really the idiots we have to worry about, but how to tell an idiot from a good driver nowadays.

You may take in your stride with a nice cage around you but I can assure you the issue will become more relevant if you try mixing different types of transport.

I'd recommend you try this - and I actually think it should be a mandatory part of the test nowadays - with so many cars and so many driving badly/ dangerously.

When you are sitting vulnerable on a bike or bicycle or pedestrian and you see a car come past barely paying attention (or not at all) risking your own personal safety, you might see things differently.

I'm not angry. I'm just not sure I see saying "yes" or "no" as the greatest threat to Road safety. Defending the ability to speak in the car? I suppose I was because I just don't see using your vocal chords as a danger. Using your phone or fiddling with the radio or a sat nav, those are dangerous but speaking is pretty much OK in my book.

Just discovered tonight that you can use voice to control the music system so that's another good safety feature.

I just think that anything that means you don't need to take your eyes off the road or your hands off the wheel has to be a good thing.

Your posts seemed to be suggesting that drivers shouldn't be doing distracting stuff like talking, I happened to think that's a bit OTT that's all.

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[domhnall]

I used to get the question about reading texts but recently the feature has stopped, so I don't know when a text arrives.

Do you know if this is a car setting or a phone setting that stops the feature working?

TIA

There's so many variables (phone, os, smartlink /non smartlink) it's hard to say. What does the manual say? My guess would be phone setting though.

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[rsthiswayup]

Actually the whole reason behind this thread was so that I wouldn't be distracted; I do a lot of miles to work and back and all motorway barring the first and last 15 miles, a lot of work is done via text with other people in meetings.

Currently to answer or even get a text read out is to take my eyes off the road. I'm looking for the ability to be able to press the voice button and say read message or press the button and dictate a message and shout send and away it goes, not taking my eyes off the road for a nano second.

JD52 and domhnall thanks for the answers, I cannot control anything via voice to with messages.

[domhnall]

I'll have a play with the car tomorrow to see what makes it work and what stops it

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[vRSAnt]

Actually the whole reason behind this thread was so that I wouldn't be distracted; I do a lot of miles to work and back and all motorway barring the first and last 15 miles, a lot of work is done via text with other people in meetings.

Currently to answer or even get a text read out is to take my eyes off the road. I'm looking for the ability to be able to press the voice button and say read message or press the button and dictate a message and shout send and away it goes, not taking my eyes off the road for a nano second.

JD52 and domhnall thanks for the answers, I cannot control anything via voice to with messages.

 

Christ really ? To be honest, what you were already doing is wrong, if you are seeking a solution to be not distracted because you've been relying on text whilst driving etc - no bones about it.

Illegal of course, and a very stupid thing to do if you've been trying to text while driving (let alone admit).

No company will come to your aide if you are caught doing that either so no point explaining it was an expectation.

 

If you smacked me off my bike I'm not sure I'd be in control of my actions if I came to realise you'd been ****ing about with phones.

 

By the way if you mean you are taking a break but that I would call taking a natural break, I certainly wouldn't describe that as a distraction from driving.

In fact thats a good thing and should be encouraged anyway. Isn't that the simpler solution here rather than all this gadgety trying to keep everyone plugged into the matrix at all times, just a thought.

 

But I'm glad to hearyou are doing something to avoid being totally distracted, well done for recognising you had a problem with what you were doing,

 

I don't agree really though that is indensipable with the "aids" you are using to reduce this distraction you've admitted to, but I guess we are just going to have to beg to differ here.

 

I just hope you put your driving first and consider your driver above and beyond all else - which is what we are all expected to do but its very easy for some to forget - in fact some hardly ever put at the forefront of their understanding.

( I'm sure a lot of the younger generation who have been so exposed to gadgets) so its no wonder why we will continue get accidents as people can get their priorities wrong.

 

Of course there is another party not present who has a lot to answer this and its the company in question. They have a lot to answer for if they are pressuring staff to make meeting illegally whilst driving - just to put into perspective I'd push the blame firmly this way that you are in this situation in the first place.

Where is their mobile phone driving policy ? Would be interesting to name and shame the company who puts safety of the public so poorly.

[domhnall]

I received a text tonight while the car was connected with Bluetooth but not smartlink. The car announced "new text from" name "do you want to hear it?" I Said yes and it read it out. So looks like you don't need smart link to have the car announce things. Just Bluetooth. It did offer me the chance to say something in reply.

There doesn't appear to be a setting to turn this on or off. I checked (while stationary) whether there is a voice option to send a text and there isn't via the touch screen. Maybe you can using the voice activated menu but I never use the skoda system, just use the built in voice features of the phone using smart link. Hope that helps.

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[rsthiswayup]

Thanks for that.

I must be missing something really obvious. I'm going to mark this as solved now to stop the fun police chipping in.

[Prog]

I never had this working with my Galaxy S5 in my Fabia and it's not working in my Octy either.

However, it worked until recently in my wife's Alfa but suddenly stopped for no reason. I think it's a phone, rather than a car, issue.

[vRSAnt]

Thanks for that.

I must be missing something really obvious. I'm going to mark this as solved now to stop the fun police chipping in.

 

"safety" police at least get it right mate ....

[domhnall]

Thanks for that.

I must be missing something really obvious. I'm going to mark this as solved now to stop the fun police chipping in.

Remind me what phone you're using and what year of car

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[rsthiswayup]

2015 65 plate with a Samsung s6

[domhnall]

Hmmmmm so the Bluetooth part should be fine. Must be a phone issue then. Is the s6 on marshmallow yet?

I'm sure mine worked the same pre marshmallow though.

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Edited 26 March, 2016 by domhnall

[jonro2009]

My S7 edge on marshmallow will read out messages, not tried to edit my own reply. I remember when pairing the phone it asked for access to my phone book and the. A separate pop up asked me for permission to access my text messages. Maybe try to delete the phone from both the Amunsden and phone then repair the two paying special attention to the permission requests on the phone.

I've actually moved away from using my phone while driving for anything other than important short calls.

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[domhnall]

Had a look at the android auto interface today, nothing about text on the screen so if you want to send texts you have to do it by voice, there's no option to do it by hand

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