Every day in the United States more than nine people are killed and more than 1,100 injured in crashes that involve a distracted driver, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Surprising new research by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety shows that even hands-free technology can be mentally distracting, despite eyes being on the road and hands on the wheel. Cathleen Lewis from AAA Northeast spoke with NJTV News Anchor Mary Alice Williams about the study.
Lewis says that people often assume that hands-free devices make it safer. “It can, but not always. Remember, you’re thinking about this conversation, you’re having a mental workload and that’s the bigger distraction. If your mind is on the conversation, then your mind isn’t on the roadway,” she said. “What actually happens is you are trying to picture the person you’re conversing with, picturing what they’re saying to you, if they’re laughing, picturing their facial expressions, trying to read something into it, and that actually makes the distraction worse.”
The shocking statistic is that even after a person stops doing the distracting activity, they remain unfocused for the 27 seconds afterwards. Lewis says that’s the length of three football fields if you’re going 25 miles per hour. “Think about what can happen in that time,” she asks.
The AAA study used a five point scale, with one being the least distracting to a five which is the most distracting, to gauge how effective voice-activated systems are. “Most of them were going from somewhere around 2.4, which was the Chevy Equinox, and going all the way up to 4.6,” she said.
The least distracting, based on the scale, is the Chevy Equinox. “That means that it gets what you’re saying very quickly. So it says ‘I want to call you’ and it calls you and you don’t have to argue with it,” she said.
She said there was a sway of about one whole point as you went through some of the most distracting to the least distracting voice activated systems in cars. She says what it comes down to is how complicated the systems are. “If a system was flexible, if it understood what you meant without having to have specific commands, it was easier to use and less distracting,” she said.
She mentioned that the last time AAA did these ratings, they had huge problems with the way that Siri was working. “Apple has actually come back to AAA and helped to make their product more flexible. So what we found is auto manufacturers are really taking these into consideration to make their cars safer,” Lewis said.
So, what’s a safe level to be driving at? Lewis says the easy answer is there’s no level of distraction that’s ok, “but somewhere between a two and a three is where you want to be. Really 2.5 is as distracted as you want to be. That’s talking to somebody else in the car, or an audio book.
The first steps to improve software lies in talking to auto manufacturers, she said. “That’s helpful because then they can make their systems more reliable and make them more flexible. And the other piece is getting people to understand that these systems are distracting. People have this idea that because I’m not typing, because I’m not looking, that I’m not distracted. So, we need to get people to understand what this distraction is, and then we’ll really be able to make people put down the phone and focus on the road,” Lewis said.
She says car manufacturers can help by listening to the studies that AAA is doing, working to understand the scales and trying to find ways to make their voice-activated systems less complicated. “Also, offer less options,” she says. “People understand that you may need to say ‘I’m running late’, but you don’t need to order movie tickets. You don’t need to order dinner. You don’t need to access the internet from your car. Those are things that should be done when you’re off the road, when you’re focusing on the fact that you need to be safe.”