Does Your Car Talk to You? Beware
We all know (or should) the dangers of texting and sometimes, even talking on the phone, while driving. But a new study has found that talking to our car could be just as distracting, too. Past human factors/ergonomics studies have shown that some in-vehicle technologies intended to help with driving tasks are actually competing for drivers’ attention and undermining driving safety, according to newswise.com. Human factors/ergonomics studies over the past 10-plus years have examined a variety of distractors, including watching TV (yes), emailing and, of course, putting on makeup. Researchers conducted a series of experiments aimed at determining the relationship between cognitive distraction of various kinds and on-road crash risk. Distracting tasks included listening to the radio, talking on both handheld and hands-free phones, and interacting with voice-to-text e-mail. Their results from baseline, driving simulator, and on-road conditions using a number of measu...