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the vehicle is getting from its driver. It's not around the corner but the fundamentals are there. We can monitor eyes, we can monitor voice patterns (which is what's needed in any case for voice recognition systems already in use), we could potentially also take an infra-red signature of the face and based on the level of blood volume, who knows, probably even determine the level of ire or worry or some other such emotion that the driver might be suffering from.

A completely different approach is to judge the erratic or otherwise movement of the car, the gas and brake pedals, and the steering wheel along with having a mirror that might make "eye-contact" with the driver to know whenever he or she actually looks at it. We would (and could) probably need to factor outside traffic and weather conditions in drawing any "distraction alert" conclusions.

Ultimately however, the automobile autopilot will be with us. Driverless test vehicles have been driven up and down highways in Europe, Japan and North America for hundreds of miles, avoiding other vehicles, stray dogs and loose soccer balls along the way. This promises to eliminate driving as a chore and leave it to the "driver" as to whether they want to be involved or not, which, by the way is just about exactly what goes on in the pilot seat of most modern light aircraft. Even small single-engined four seaters.

Meanwhile, we might benefit from a few tweaks to the legal system and driver training protocols, such as requiring highway codes to make stipulations about driving while distracted, and driving tests examining for good judgment in attention demanding situations (like the airplane pilots have to show). These ought to deliver us a safer generation of drivers.

It may seem that I sound as if the panacea is in the technology, but it's easy to forget what a lot of progress has been made in making vehicles much safer in both visible and not so visible ways. It should be obvious that I'm an unapologetic techno-geek but, hey, we're the ones that had the vision to come up with anti-lock brakes, stability control, airbags, adaptive cruise control, crumple zones, and a host of other innovations that let modern cars resemble those of twenty years ago only superficially.

Let's see where the next twenty years take us and until then, lay off my cell phone!

Learn more about this author, Salahuddin Khan.
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