Three were rated as moderately distracting, six as highly distracting and one as very highly distracting, the US-based traffic safety non-profit said in a report.
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“Automakers often promote everything their connected cars can do, but this research paints a frightening picture of what drivers can’t do if they use the popular features”, Parmenter says.
Infotainment systems in the Chevrolet Equinox, Buick Lacrosse and Toyota 4Runner were the least distracting, because they were more intuitive and better at understanding voice commands. In the meantime, he said, drivers should use caution when using these voice-command systems or avoid using them altogether, even when at seemingly safe positions such as a stoplight.
But the most surprising finding was that a driver travelling at only 25 miles per hour continues to be distracted for up to 27 seconds after disconnecting from highly distracting phone and auto voice-command systems, and up to 15 seconds after disconnecting from the moderately distracting systems. “But that’s just not the case”. Older drivers took a longer time to resume full attention than younger ones. “Even sending a short text message can cause nearly another 30 seconds of impaired attention”, Strayer said in a statement released by University of Utah on Wednesday.
“Most people think, ‘I hang up and I’m good to go, ‘” said David Strayer, senior author of the two new studies. A rating between 2 and 3 indicates the potential for a “moderate distraction”.
“Hands-free isn’t risk-free”, said Jake Nelson, director of traffic safety advocacy and research.
You can find the full studies, with full details, on the American Automobile Association’s website. Strayer and Cooper ran the studies with Utah psychology doctoral students Joanna Turrill, James Coleman and Rachel Hopman. The study included drivers making phone calls, changing music and texting.
Many smartphone interactions are going hands-free thanks to personal assistant apps like Siri or Cortana but that doesn’t mean that they always safe to use in the auto. Different cars and their technologies were rated for distraction on a scale of 1 to 10. Listening to the radio rated 1.2. AAA considers a mental distraction rating of two and higher to be potentially unsafe while driving. The results found 7 out of 10 had their brain distracted for up to 10 seconds after completing an in vehicle task. Category 4 is similar to updating social media while driving, while category 5 corresponds to a highly-challenging, scientific test created to overload a driver’s attention.
According to the study, Google Now performed best rating 3.0, followed by Apple Siri ranking at 3.4 and Microsoft Cortana at 3.8.
The data has strong implications for public safety, Strayer said.
In all but three of the accidents, Brian Torcellini said the cars had been rear-ended by people too busy checking their phones and not paying attention to the road ahead.
The new studies were conducted with participants driving the various cars at 25 miles per hour or less around a 2.7-mile route in Salt Lake City’s Avenues neighborhood as they used voice-commands to dial numbers, call contacts and tune the radio using in-car systems, and to dial numbers, call contacts, choose music and text using smartphones.
It’s true these systems don’t occupy your hands but they do take mind-share, and researchers say that’s where the problem lies.
To measure the effects of the technology, they wore wearable LED lights that flashed red every three to five seconds at the edge of a driver’s left eye. Drivers pressed a switch attached to a thumb when they saw the light.
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In 2013, 3,154 people died and 424,000 others were injured in motor vehicle crashes on USA roads involving driver distraction, Department of Transportation figures show.
