Study: Distracted Drivers Stay Distracted, Even After They've Sent Super Clever Text
Drivers may take nearly 30 seconds to regain their focus back on the road after using a car’s infotainment or hands-free smartphone systems, researchers announced Wednesday.
The two studies, which were conducted by the University of Utah ( Go Utes!) for the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, concluded that even modern assist programs could dangerously distract drivers for up to 27 seconds after they’re done using them. Researchers noted that vehicles traveled more than 300 yards for 27 seconds at 25 mph.
“Just because these systems are in the car doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to use them while you are driving,” University of Utah psychology professor David Strayer, senior author of the two new studies, said in a statement. “They are very distracting, very error prone and very frustrating to use. Far too many people are dying because of distraction on the roadway, and putting another source of distraction at the fingertips of drivers is not a good idea. It’s better not to use them when you are driving.”
Researchers found that Chevrolet’s MyLink (Equinox), Buick’s IntelliLink (Lacrosse) and Toyota’s Entune (4Runner) were the least distracting models among the systems tested, although all three still ranked as “moderately distracting” to drivers. Researchers said the Sync MyFord Touch (Taurus), Volkswagen Car-Net (Passat) Nissan Connect (Altima), Chrysler Uconnect (200C) and Hyundai Blue Link (Sonata) all ranked “highly distracting.” Mazda’s Connect (Mazda6) rated as “very highly distracting.”
Similar systems in different cars, such as Chevrolet’s MyLink ranked differently, which researchers said could be attributed to varying road noise from the cars.
Researchers also found that voice-activated systems from Google, Apple and Microsoft all rated as “highly distracting” when given voice commands for navigation. Microsoft’s Cortana rated “very highly distracting” when trying to send a text.
“The voice-command technology isn’t ready,” Joel Cooper, a University of Utah research assistant professor of psychology and a co-author of the new studies, said in a statement. “It’s in the cars and is billed as a safe alternative to manual interactions with your car, but the voice systems simply don’t work well enough.”
Researchers tested the systems with 257 drivers for the infotainment and 65 people for the smartphone study. Participants were asked to respond when an LED light flashed and researchers measured drivers’ attentions to how quickly they responded to the lights.
Or you could just give up trying to Facebook in the car.
“These systems are often very difficult to use, especially if you’re just trying to entertain yourself. … The vast majority of people we tested ended up being frustrated by the complexity and error-prone nature of the systems,” Strayer said.
(H/T to David)
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The phone s/he is holding is the one i currently use! Can't say i like it, but if you want Verizon, and don't need data, you are condemned to it.
I see lot's of studies ranking distraction levels and reaction times, but relatively few (if any) correlating distraction level with safety/danger. It's intuitively obvious, so I don't trust it unless it's proven. There may be mitigating factors like not engaging in risk adding maneuvers as often while knowingly distracted. How does not jockeying for position and changing lanes as often balance out the distraction level? Is it measured by anyone, or is it too issue money neutral to be funded?