A new study conducted by the University of Utah and the American Automobile Association Foundation for Traffic Safety looks at whether hands-free technology – now the rage with car makers – is making roads safer.
Their findings… NO.
The study followed 162 drivers while they drove a variety of cars with advanced hands-free features.
What they found was that the new gadgets often work erratically – frustrating and distracting drivers – leading to more driver errors. Drivers in the study often missed road dangers like pedestrians and stop signs while using the devices.
In some instances – drivers performed driving tasks worse using the hands-free technology than they did use hand-held phones.
Another recent study, named “Mental Workload of Common Voice-Based Vehicle Interactions across Six Different Vehicle Systems”, looked at the effects on drivers of using hands-free assistants like Siri. According to the study, Toyota’s Entune was the least distracting in-car system, while the most distracting was Chevy’s MyLink and Apple’s Siri was the worst, Mashable reported.
It is a well-established fact that a distracted driver is often as impaired as a drunk driver and almost as likely to cause a car accident. Given the fact that there are over 9 million cars and trucks on the road with voice-activated systems right now and that number is expected to rise to 62 million by 2018 – our roads may become more dangerous than ever.
So what is a driver with all this technology to do to avoid causing car accidents? Prepare for your trips in advance and only use distracting technology while your car is stationary.
If you or a loved one are ever injured in a car accident, know that the Connecticut car accident lawyers at RisCassi & Davis have been assisting people just like you for almost 60 years. And we’ve received both state and national recognition for our work in this area. If you’re ever in a car accident of any kind and would like a free consultation with one of our Connecticut car accident lawyers, please contact us. There is no obligation. And – there is no fee or other costs unless we are successful on your behalf.