A driving mode for phones?

A "driving mode" could restrict connectivity when GPS detects travel at a certain speed. Photo / 123rf

If you don't check your mobile when behind the wheel, you're part of a shrinking group.

Phone use was a factor in almost 500 road accidents and 20 deaths in 2014 in Britain, and the problem is getting worse: where the sole enemy was once phone calls, there are now the endless distractions of social media, chat apps and games.

UK penalties for using a phone while driving have doubled in the last year - it now carries a £200 (NZ$358) fine and six licence points - but ministers appear to have zeroed in on a new solution. They are pushing the idea of a "driving mode" on phones that would limit mobiles' functionality, along the same lines of the aeroplane mode that shuts down wireless signals.

How a safe driving mode might work is a little hazy at the moment, to say the least, but here are some possibilities: phones could use GPS technology to detect a certain speed, and enter driving mode at that threshold. Or the mode could be switched on by the driver when they enter the vehicle. When activated, the phone could block certain functions such as calls and messages, but allow others such as satellite navigation apps or emergency calls. Perhaps mobile signals on motorways could be jammed.

Sound reasonable? It might until you apply any scrutiny to each of these ideas.

Take speed tracking. The easiest way to stop drivers using their phone would be to cut out all communications or functionality once a phone hits a certain speed. But this would render phones useless to passengers and transport users, as well as drivers.

Phone companies could introduce a screen that would allow passengers to use a phone but discourage drivers - such as Pokémon Go's driving warning - but this is hardly going to stop anyone set on using their mobile at the wheel, and the extra step to unlocking it could distract drivers for longer. This is not to mention how Location Services are easily turned off.

The less radical choice, an optional safe driving mode, might seem more practical, but it already exists: Manufacturers like Samsung have modes that can read out texts and messages and allow voice responses; and they can even be automatically activated at a certain speed. Phones also have do not disturb modes that stop alerts coming through.

The problem isn't that the technology isn't there, it's that people ignore it: anyone who wants to check Facebook or text while on the move is going to find a way to do so. Any technical solution will cross one of two lines: either being so irritating as to be unfeasible, or easy enough to ignore so that it is useless.

When technology has created a problem, as in this case, it's tempting to think there should be a technical fix, but that doesn't mean there is. Using a mobile behind the wheel is dangerous and irresponsible behaviour, and there's no technology that can make up for that.

That said, there is a parallel here: music piracy. Of course, illegal downloads didn't kill anyone, but bear with me. For years, the tech industry looked for technical solutions to piracy: digital rights management or taking down websites. It failed spectacularly, often with the added drag of irritating perfectly legal consumers.

In the end, piracy has declined not because of attempts to block it, but because of the rise of legal streaming services, which offer a wealth of on-demand content that is more convenient to access than a dodgy website.

The perfect equivalent when it comes to phones in cars would be self-driving technology, which will let people text to their heart's content. It will be many years until that happens, so in the meantime car dashboards, such as those from Apple and Google, that safely replicate many of the functions of a smartphone are likely to be more effective than trying to disable a phone on the move.