Shuttling around San Francisco in a cab, I found this intriguing set of improvised holders for a mobile phone and a bluetooth headset. California just began enforcing a law requiring that drivers use a hands-free device when they take a call while in the car. Anecdotally, we’ve seen many people continue to hold the handset to their ear while driving, and the debates continue in cocktail party conversations about whether this law makes sense. Which is more important, the physical interface between one’s driving hands and the steering wheel? Or the interface between your brain and the oftentimes cerebrally taxing levels of concentration required to watch out for, or anticipate, janky manuevers and surprises introduced by drivers/bikers/bicyclists/pedestrians/pets/bouncing balls?
Heh – I just discovered the same trick the other day. I didn’t have the headset plugged in (and the Bluetooth one is too noisy), so I put the phone on speaker and wedged it in the steering wheel.
It’s definitely a useful improvisation! Doesn’t quite work with my iPhone, which tends to slide all over the place when I put it on the passenger seat..