Studies Conclude Hands-Free-calling and Apple Siri Distract Drivers

New submitter operator_error writes with a story at the L.A. Times that echoes some previous research on the relative risks of hand-held vs. hands-free phones by drivers, and comes to an even grimmer conclusion: In many cars, making a hands-free phone call can be more distracting than picking up your phone, according to a new study from AAA and the University of Utah. In-dash phone systems are overly complicated and prone to errors, the study found, and the same is true for voice-activated functions for music and navigation. A companion study also found that trying to use Siri — the voice control system on Apple phones — while driving was dangerously distracting. Two participants in the study had virtual crashes in an automotive simulator while attempting to use Siri, the study's authors reported. In response, Toyota said the study did not show a link between cognitive distraction and car crashes. "The results actually tell us very little about the relative benefits of in-vehicle versus hand-held systems; or about the relationship between cognitive load and crash risks," said Mike Michels, a Toyota spokesman. Meanwhile, many states treat hand-held devices very differently from hands-free ones; in New York, for instance, both texting and talking on a hand-held mobile phone are put in the same category, while talking on a hands-free device is covered only by more general distracted driving laws. If the Utah study is correct, maybe that's backwards. (And some evidence suggests that phone use in cars is not quite the straightforward danger that it's sometimes presented as, despite the correlation of phone use with accidents.)

Comments

Driverless Car

[Anonymous Coward]

It's pretty funny that this article is right on top of the driverless city they're building in Michigan.
Please make autonomous cars a reality so we can finally stop having careless drivers on the road killing 40 000 in the USA alone every year.

Will they also ban passengers?

[popo]

Because I'm pretty sure that talking to one's significant other is equally distracting.

Re:So..

[LordLimecat]

Killing someone is already illegal, and Im of the school of thought that says having redundant laws is always a bad thing. Never have 2 laws where one will do; if killing someone through negligence is illegal, killing someone because of your cellphone doesnt need to be differently illegal.

A defense against rear-end collisions

[TigerPlish]

I've had two "love taps" from behind, one by a tailgater in dense traffic, one by a lady putting on makeup while driving.

Then I got rear-ended by some punk teen in his hopped-up Tacoma with a big tacky add-on tach, gauges on the a-pillar, etc. That impact lifted the rear of my Miata and twisted her lengthwise. Instant kill. I was ok, the car died protecting me. It was a fun 10 years that I had that car, and I still miss her.

So now, whenever I stop at a light or stopsign, or when in traffic which is slowing down, I keep an eye on the rear view mirror. If I see an approaching car and I think they're not stopping -- or if I actually *see* them working the phone, I flash my brakelights and honk the horn lots. Saved me already once, for-sure. Guy looks up and the nose went down, he was hard on the brakes. Then he looks up, as if saying "What?!"