STUPID or stupid?

[KeithJG]

Just been down to Brighton to collect an item from Dover....104mls

Just approaching the M25 from the M26 and the large illuminated signs saying Congestion at Juct. 12...15....so carried on as i am going down the M23 at Juct.6

Suddenly i had a text message....now i only use my mobile for emergency use and only one person has my number....so i thought i would be another hour before getting to my destination so shall i take a peep at the phone or not as i never use the mobile while driving....so i decided to and to my horror the text said Congestion at Juct.12....15.......so what the hell is going on?....are they trying to cause accidents?

 

[tron]

Who sent the text? How did they get your number?

 

[MancMike]

Was it definitely a text message? So it has a return number?

I've not heard of this implementation before, but it sounds like some kind of alert sent via CAP Common Alerting Protocol - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It can message all supported devices in a given area, can be geo-targetted. If nobody has your number and obviously nobody was to know you were approaching that traffic, it sounds like it could be something like that...

...or you have some traffic notification app and the notification looked like a text message, but wasn't?

 

[Ted]

A text message doesn't have to have a return number. It can have an alpha brand of up to 11 characters.

 

[markjay]

Are you certain that you did not have SatNav software running that triggered this alert? Apologies if this seems to imply that you can't tell the difference between SatNav alerts and Text messages.... no offence meant.

 

[KeithJG]

Are you certain that you did not have SatNav software running that triggered this alert? Apologies if this seems to imply that you can't tell the difference between SatNav alerts and Text messages.... no offence meant.

Non taken.....i have a stand alone satnav that i don`t often use and it was at home.....but i have been reading around and i think it is something to do with Google crap!....

So have been into the phone looking for something to disable...Lol

Forgot to mention , the message gave my text tone and there was the message written as i opened the phone, no return number and it was not logged anywhere!

 

[MancMike]

So it was just a notification then, not a text, just used the same tone.

 

[renault12ts]

Yes...but the OP's point is...it's a stupidly potentially dangerous alert.

 

[Stratman]

It's only dangerous if your phone is switched on and the chosen alert frightens you.

A lot of cars these days have full in car phone integration with texts displayed on the navigation system, or even read out to the driver. Should they be denied their notifications?

If a driver is startled by their phone the solution is within their own remit.

 

[poormansporsche]

Big Brother is watching !!!

I have everything turned off on my phone so now it sounds the text message beep every now and again to to tell me location / gps is off ! grrr

 

[Giantvanman]

Suddenly i had a text message....now i only use my mobile for emergency use and only one person has my number....so i thought i would be another hour before getting to my destination so shall i take a peep at the phone or not as i never use the mobile while driving....so i decided to and to my horror the text said Congestion at Juct.12....15.......so what the hell is going on?....are they trying to cause accidents?

I understand that it may have caused concern initially but had it been an emergency, that person (or someone doing it for them) would have called, surely.

Were there no exits (junctions or services) where you could have left the motorway in the hour remaining of your journey to check rather than "take a peep" and risk an accident (and break the law)?

However, no harm was done and if your phone alert sounds again in such circumstances, it won't be such a worry.

 

[Spinal]

Sounds like CAP, used extensively in Italy around football matches

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Sounds like Google Now to me.

Do you travel that same route at around the same time regularly, or was the destination in your Calendar? If so, Google Now anticipated that you were likely to be travelling towards congestion.

If you're already travelling, and the driver, then you are in control of whether you look at notifications on your phone, watch or integrated screen. If you're not yet travelling, or are not the driver then it's blooming useful.

https://www.google.co.uk/landing/now/

 

[tron]

Too much information. The curse of modern life. "Trigger Alerts" which tell you that the next programme contains scenes of people eating meat and if you have been affected by this...
A telephone that does my thinking for me, or thinks it can is no less than a labour making device and a good look at the time it wastes versus that which it saves is pretty instructive.
It can debit my account unless I am careful and suitably informed, hustle me in the street to buy this, that and the other,let the thieves of time in to cold call me and require so much administration and support that I really wonder if I need it. I have taken to leaving it in Britain when I go home and when I return, sometimes weeks later, the bills are still paid, my toes are still attached to my feet and the sun rises every morning.
Issigonis famously designed the Mini without space for a radio and Sheppard's law* states that a car's entertainment value is inversely proportional to its in car entertainment.
The overhead gantry does the job of telling you that you will be late. THe 520 BMW I have occasionally to endure cannot travel a mile without disturbing me with some audible warning. It doesnt make me a better or more attentive driver, quite the reverse.
By contrast, my AWARE, a simple GPS which shows me if I am within five minutes of blundering into restricted airspace, only chimes in if it really has to, leaving me to get on with flying the aeroplane.

*What isn't there won't go wrong.

 

[markjay]

I mentioned in previous posts that I don't think legislation is catching up with automotive infotainment systems.

The restrictions on 'texting' are archaic, and do not take into account the wealth of information and communication channels available via mobile data device, and the blurring of borders netween manufacturer-installed equipment and driver-owned devices due to ever increasing integration between the two.

There should be a discussion and some level of standardisation and/or legislation regarding the human-machine interface and interaction between drivers and infotainment/data systems in vehicles.

This goes well beyond simply looking at phone calls, texting, and SatNav as isolated and separate issues.

 

[tron]

Yes, I think you are right. Strapped into a ten gallon bomb inches from all the other ones, travelling at high speed and being aware that few of them are concentrating makes me feel that the driverless car would be a good idea- for the rest of them!