Driven to distraction

Technology-crammed cars affect attentiveness, according to AAA study

WASHINGTON The infotainment technology automakers are cramming into dashboards of new vehicles is making drivers take their eyes off the road and hands off the wheel for dangerously long periods of time, an AAA study says.

The recent study is the latest by University of Utah professor David Strayer, who has been examining the impact of infotainment systems on safety for AAA since 2013.

Past studies also identified problems, but Strayer said the “explosion of technology” has made things worse.

Automakers now include more options for drivers to use social media, email and text.

The technology is also becoming more complicated: Some vehicles have as many as 50 buttons on the steering wheel and dashboard. There are touch screens, voice commands, writing pads, heads-up displays on windshields and mirrors and 3D computer-generated images.

“It’s adding more and more layers of complexity and information at drivers’ fingertips without often considering whether it’s a good idea to put it at their fingertips,” Strayer said.

That complexity increases the amount of time drivers spend trying to use the systems.

The auto industry says the new systems are better alternatives for drivers than mobile phones and navigation devices that weren’t designed to be used while driving. The vehicle-integrated systems “are designed to … require driver attention that is comparable to tuning the radio or adjusting climate controls, which have always been considered baseline acceptable behaviours while driving,” said Wade Newton, a spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.

But Jake Nelson, AAA’s director for traffic safety advocacy and research, said drivers took their eyes off the road and hands off the wheel while using infotainment systems in each of the 30 cars and light trucks — all 2017 models — that were tested.

Automakers haven’t worked hard enough to make the systems quick and easy to use, Nelson said.

Researchers rated 23 of the 30 vehicles “very high” or “high” in terms of the attention they demanded from drivers. Seven were rated “moderate.”

None required a low amount of attention to use.

Programming a destination into in-vehicle GPS navigation systems was the most distracting activity, taking drivers an average of 40 seconds to complete.

At 40 kilometres per hour, a car can travel the length of four football fields during the time it takes to enter a destination.

Previous research has shown that drivers who remove their eyes from the road for just two seconds double their risk for a crash.

Under pressure from the industry, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 2012 issued voluntary safety guidelines to automakers for dashboard technology instead of enforceable standards.

The guidelines recommend that automakers lock out the ability to program navigation systems while a car is moving.

However, the ability to program navigation while driving was available in 12 vehicles in the study.

The guidelines also recommend automakers prevent drivers from texting while driving, but threequarters of the vehicles tested permit drivers to text while driving.

Texting was the second-most distracting task performed by test drivers.

Drivers looked away from the road less when using voice commands, but that safety benefit was offset by the increased amount of time drivers spent interacting with the systems.

AAA said drivers should use infotainment technologies “only for legitimate emergencies or urgent, driving-related purposes.”

It also urged automakers to block the ability to program navigation systems or send texts while driving.

The Associated Press