Trains bombard passengers with announcements

Imagine an experiment which presented 31 announcements in 32 minutes to participants who were trying to relax. Well, you don't have to if you were on a South West train from Portsmouth to Petersfield, where passengers were asked to keep aisles free and reminded that they must have a ticket. MP David Willetts has complained to the rail watchdog, claiming he endures around 50 announcements on his 80 minute journey from Havant to London Waterloo. He is now calling on South West Trains to cut the number of announcements which cause "considerable irritation" and make relaxation impossible. In a letter to the rail consumer watchdog Passenger Focus, he added: "I travel across the country a lot and have been struck by the intrusiveness and frequency of passenger announcements on South West Trains."

South West Trains admitted customers have complained that there are too many announcements. The company says they are in accordance with EU regulations, which state all trains have to display and announce information regarding the destination and upcoming stops. Spokeswoman Emma Knight said: "Unfortunately passengers who join at the beginning of the journey will have to hear a number of repeats due to the need to inform passengers joining en-route. The information given and the quantity is reviewed on a regular basis but there are clear guidelines that South West Trains has to follow." She said other announcements were to keep passengers in the know. Source: Telegraph, 7 August 2009. tinyurl.com/lq6qxe

Hands-free car phones no safe option

The Sydney Morning Herald reports on several studies that highlight the dangers of driving while using hands-free car phones. A long-term study conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the US in 2003, but only recently reported in the New York Times, uncovered “negligible differences in safety relevant behaviour and performance between using a hand-held and hands-free communications devices while driving from the standpoint of cognitive distraction”. Advice from authorities is conflicting. In Australia, the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority urges drivers to keep their mobile conversations short and to avoid “complex or emotional” topics, but the the NRMA motoring organisation goes a step further, advising drivers who want to make or receive a call or send a text, to pull over before using their mobiles. “Even when you’re on a mobile hands-free, you are diverting your attention from driving and increase the risk of having a crash," NRMA Insurance spokesman John Hallal said.

In 2005, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety undertook a study to cross-match traffic accidents with phone billing data. The findings indicated a four-fold increase in injury crash risk from the use of mobile phones, consistent across male and female drivers, older and younger drivers, and hand-held and hands-free phones.

Another study by Griffith University in 2004 revealed that it was not only hand-held mobiles that caused problems, and the interference from talking to someone not in same context was problematic. Russell White, a driving expert who helped to conduct the 2004 study, said: “We discovered that distraction didn’t come from the type of conversation... It was the factor of having the chat, during which we saw changes in driving performance in terms of perception, awareness and also vehicle control... We found they braked later and cornered harder when having telephone conversation as opposed to when there were no distractions.” He said the key problem was the internal process of having a phone call, which takes them out of their current situation.

In spite of the mounting evidence, equipment manufacturers continue to market hands-free systems as safe alternatives to hand-held phones. “Hands-free car kits allow the convenient and safe use of your mobile phone so you can maximise down time while driving,” Telstra says on its website.

But an outright ban on hands-free dialling will not solve existing safety concerns said Thilo Koslowski, Gartner’s car industry analyst: “What we need are more studies to examine the cognitive load of talking on a mobile phone. I think ultimately the automobile industry will find the answer in sophisticated communication systems that can interact with driving data,” he said. Source: Sydney Morning Herald, 29 July 2009. tinyurl.com/n9dydo

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Yahoo gets user-centred treatment

Yahoo has given its front page a makeover in an attempt to consolidate its position as the main portal to the web. "We want to be at the centre of people's lives online," said Yahoo's consumer experiences head Tapan Bhat. "There is a destination for everything you are about in just a click or two. Now we are looking at Yahoo holistically, all centred around the user," Mr Bhat told reporters. Users are now able to personalise the page and customise links to Yahoo and other services they use the most from news to social networks to email to movies. There are over 60 applications, with more expected, and consumers can add their own. Yahoo has described the overhaul as the most "radical" and "fundamental" make-over of the site since it began more than a decade ago. Yahoo's front page is seen as vital to the company's future and is regarded as prime real estate because it serves as an entry point for users, and as a result commands premium advertisement prices. Users who want to take advantage of the new home page will have to opt-in and click on a link to select the new design. Source: BBC, 21 July 2009. tinyurl.com/lysf8g

Rage against the machines

Ariane Sherine laments the age of the machines in The Guardian. "When, last week, I asked a bus driver, 'Please can you tell me when we get to the hospital?' he replied gruffly, 'The bus will tell you. It speaks.'" The number of automated checkout machines at her local supermarket has quadrupled, from 4 to 17, "taking our jobs", while touchscreens in doctors surgeries are an ideal virus spreading mechanism. While technology is often seen as synonymous with progress, Sherine has some advice that may appeal to those of a human-centred bent: "progress doesn't mean replacing people with machines that copy us badly and rule out friendly human interactions, smiles, apologies and kindness...Progress, in this area, would be programming machines to do the things human beings can't or won't do". While us ergonomists may have some particularly practical uses in mind, Sherine suggests more novel uses for automated PA systems on public transport that dispense unspeakable social truths: "For the comfort of fellow passengers, will the man in the blue shirt please apply deodorant or alight at the next stop?", or "Don't just sit there like a lemon – stand up for the old man/pregnant woman!". Designers could even pit technology against itself: "Will the young man ostentatiously flaunting his new iPhone please put the bloody thing away – it isn't impressing anybody". Food for thought. Source: Guardian, 19 July 2009. tinyurl.com/lx9vee

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