I try to do things the right way, to make the best decisions possible, to be the best person I can be. I give my time and money to charities. I chew with my mouth closed. I open doors for people. I say please, thank you and God bless you when someone sneezes. I pick up my dog’s poop when I walk them.
I thought I was doing the right thing the last couple of months while driving. I started using voice command technology in my car to make sure I kept both hands on the wheel and my focus on driving. I thought I was doing a good thing. As it turns out, I wasn’t.
A new study released by AAA and conducted by the University of Utah shows that voice commands or in-vehicle information systems can be just as distracting when we are behind the wheel.
For example, when I am in my car and I want to change the station on my radio, I press a button on the steering wheel and say “tune to 98.5” and the radio automatically tunes to B95.5 FM.
When I want to call my parents, I say “call mom and dad” and boom, it calls my parents house. While I thought this was a safe way to multi-task while driving, the data tells a different story.
Researchers found that potentially unsafe levels of mental distraction can last for as long as 27 seconds after completing a distracting task in the worst-performing systems studied.
That means, under some circumstances, when I say “tune to B98.5” I can remain distracted for up 27 seconds after I make the command. I was stunned to see that number.
“The lasting effects of mental distraction pose a hidden and pervasive danger that would likely come as a surprise to most drivers,” said Peter Kissinger, President and CEO of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. “The results indicate that motorists could miss stop signs, pedestrians and other vehicles while the mind is readjusting to the task of driving.”
I notice that a lot of people use “safer times” like when stopped at a red light or stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic to use voice commands while in the car. The research shows that it really isn’t safer.
“Drivers should use caution while using voice-activated systems, even at seemingly safe moments when there is a lull in traffic or the car is stopped at an intersection,” said Marshall Doney, AAA’s President and CEO. “The reality is that mental distractions persist and can affect driver attention even after the light turns green.”
The study tested 322 drivers aged 20-71 driving 2015 model year vehicles. The participants where given six different voice command tasks while driving including: music selection, contact calling and number dialing.
Every year auto makers add new bells and whistles to our vehicles designed to keep us more connected in the information age. As it turns out, that might not be a good thing.
Just because that technology is there to allow us to do it doesn’t mean we ought to use it,” said Jake Nelson of AAA.
About the Author
