Road Work 1 7-2 Improvements in mobile communications put the office in the driver's seat. JILL DAVIDSON SKLAR STAFF WRITER magine driving down Northwestern Highway. It's a beautiful, clear day and suddenly you get the impulse to call a friend to meet for lunch. So you switch on your video teleconferencer, smile into the camera mounted on your visor, give your friend a ring and ... Video teleconferencer? In a car? According to Ron Goldberg, spokesman for the Electronic In- dustries Association, that scene may not be too far down the road. As more people desire to become accessible at all times, the equip- ment to do it with — portable and anchored in cars — will increase in popularity and sophistication. Already, 20 percent of Ameri- can households own cellular phones, half the amount of those who own video-game software. Proprietors of cellular phone numbers are up from the mere 1 percent of those who owned them in 1992. The increase is due in part to the fact that technology has im- proved and become cheaper at the same time that the operating range of cellular phones has ex- panded, said David Cole, direc- tor of the Office of Automotive Transportation at the Universi- ty of Michigan. Also, auto manufacturers are responding to the trend, making the use of the technology more convenient. This year, for exam- ple, the Chevrolet truck line fea- tures as standard equipment multiple ports to plug in elec- tronics like lap-top computers and fax machines. This is a far cry from when car phones were initially mass- mar- keted. Barbara Swaab, owner of Se- lect Communications on Orchard PHOTO BY BILL GEMMELL Lake Road, remembers that the first portable tele- phone she sold weighed 22 pounds and retailed at $2,500. The large trans- ceiver portion of the phone was bolted into the trunk of the car and it had the ca- pability to receive and send calls only as far as Pontiac and Detroit. "I sold quite a few of those," she said, adding that she keeps a few on hand for repairs. "And those people still talk to me." Today, Ms. Swaab sells 3.9-ounce telephones that double as fax machines, and Simon, an 18-ounce cel- lular phone \fax \ e- mail\ cellular pager address book \ appointment scheduler\ calculator \ pa- perless note pad and clock. The equipment trend to outfit the car with every imaginable piece of office equipment is more preva- lent in California, where heavy traffic ties up drivers for hours, time that could be spent conducting busi- ness. But that isn't to say that Carrie Luke of Select Communications compares portable phones of the past and present. the movement has not reached the metropolitan Detroit Like Sgt. Richard Rule, a Car batteries also face a strain area. Mark Asmar, an installer Michigan State Police trooper. to feed all of the electronic equip- at Radios, Knobs, Speakers and Since a greater amount of tech- ment. Not to mention the hav- Things in Keego Harbor, has seen nology has crept into cars, he has oc this portable technology has lap-top computers and fax ma- seen more of the users in acci- wreaked on people's lives. Before chines in the cars of traveling dents. the advent of cellular phones, sales representatives. "They're cruising along at 65 people used to take drives to get "It's easier for them to do work to 75 miles per hour, covering away from the office; now the of- on the road than to go back to the hundreds of yards of road in a fice technology is in the car, in office," he said. short amount of time and con- their pockets, etc. While the technology is a centrating not on the road but on "That is how pathetic this of- tremendous time- what the person at the other fice thing has become," Mr. Gold- saver for some, it is a end of the line is saying," he berg said. "There are fewer and big headache for oth- said. "It's a dangerous com- fewer demarcations between ers. bination." work and home life." O Safety Tips For Phoning and Driving JILL DAVIDSON SKLAR STAFF WRITER gt. Richard Rule, a Michigan State sible to the general public, we began to • Use a hands-free phone in order Police trooper, has seen almost see more accidents involving people talk- to keep both hands on the wheel. every scenario when it comes to car ing on them," Sgt. Rule said, noting that • Use memory dialing features accidents. most of the accidents are not fatal and in- or voice-activated dialing. So it no longer shocks him when some- volve a rear-end collision. • Don't attempt to write while dri- one who is talking on a cellular phone Driving and telephones can be a dan- driving compared to 3,032 which were al- ving. If you need to take notes, pull off plows into another car and then calls po- gerous mix, but they don't have to be. cohol-related. the road and park in a safe place, not on lice to report it. Nor is he surprised when According to the Washington, D.C.,- To be on the safe side, CTIA offers some the side of a freeway. a single road mishap generates more than based Cellular Telecommunications In- suggestions for safe driving while using a • Never let a call interfere with dri- 100 emergency calls, all made from car dustry Association (CTIA), 28 deaths on cellular phone: ving. Many cellular telephone com- phones. America's roads in 1993 could be attrib- • Install your ear phone where it panies offer voice mail for a nominal 'When car phones became more acces- uted directly to cellular telephone use and can be reached easily. monthly charge.