Brown: Taconic tragedy shows technology's role

A now-ancient cell phone commercial once teased people with the promise of being able to track friends' movements on a map.

The idea instantly gave rise to fears that people could use technology to stalk others.

But this week, the idea has a more beneficial application - it can be used to save lives.

It's yet to be determined what went so horribly wrong on the Taconic last Sunday afternoon. But we do know this much. Diane Schuler, who was driving five children back home after a camping trip upstate, used technology, her cell phone, to call her brother and tell him she was feeling ill. She was having trouble seeing and had become disoriented.

That cell phone was later found near the Tappan Zee Bridge toll plaza in Tarrytown.

-Click here to see the latest photos of Taconic crash tragedy

Her brother told Schuler to pull over and wait. He said he would come get her. He also called the New York State Police barracks in Tarrytown. They quickly fanned out to search miles of parkway, rest stops, and entrance and exit ramps trying to find her minivan. Sometime after 2 p.m., the barracks called out to the entire force for assistance, but by then it was too late.

At some point, more than one motorist on the parkway in Westchester used a cell phone to call 911 to report that minivan going the wrong way down the roadway.

The GPS in those phones allowed state troopers manning computers in the Westchester barracks to know, within five seconds, a trooper told me, where drivers were when they made the 911 calls.

But there was no time to stop what was to happen.

While technology this time couldn't save any lives, there is a way to honor the dead.

And that's to learn from the Taconic Parkway tragedy.

"Technology can be great. It can be helpful if people know what to do," Investigator Shannon Morrison of the State Police said.

If a driver feels ill, Morrison said, pull over to the side of the road and use a cell phone to call 9ll for help. Staying on the line, in areas with an enhanced 911 system, like Westchester and Long Island, helps the phone's GPS signal fix to a location - as long as the cell phone stays with the car.

A call and a hang-up can usually fix the location from where the call was made to within a 10-mile radius. A longer call is always better; it usually can pin a location down to several yards, said Trooper Rich Witkiewitz.

An enhanced 911 could not have helped Schuler because she left her cell phone behind before she got on the Taconic. But a call to 911 - and a cell phone in the car - could help make a difference for another family, as could GPS tracking software.

There are many types of such software (like Google's Latitude) and many ways to use them. One way would be to let family members notify authorities of a driver's location, if the driver can't do so. The best of the software requires that the person tracking and the person being tracked agree, which helps get around some of the privacy and trust objections. And then there are other options, such as OnStar, which include an emergency device in the car.

I've yet to try out any tracking system. But when there comes a need to monitor a traveling family member, for peace of mind and safety's sake, I will.

-Click here to see the latest photos of Taconic crash tragedy