Yelling at mobes while driving just as bad as texting
GODDAMMIT I JUST WANT TO WRITE 'ROUNDABOUT'
32
Using voice-to-text tech to send messages while driving is just as dangerous as regular texting, a new study has found.
Drivers' response times doubled regardless of whether they were speaking or typing their messages, compared to when they weren't texting, the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University said.
The institute tested 43 participants driving along a test track once without any mobile devices, then once while texting, and once while using speech-to-text.
Dictating messages to be converted into text also took longer than manual texting. Either way, driver performance was affected, both in terms of response time and the amount of time drivers spent looking at the road ahead.
And while drivers felt like they were less safe while texting, they assumed they were safer with voice texting.
"Understanding the distracted driving issue is an evolving process, and this study is but one step in that process,” Christine Yager, the researcher who ran the study, said. “We believe it’s a useful step, and we’re eager to see what other studies may find.”
The institute already has the next study lined up: a 3,000-driver survey of the motivations and attitudes of distracted drivers that will be figuring out which demographic groups are most likely to be distracted while behind the wheel. ®
COMMENTS
Highly Rated
They should be shot
Any damn fool using a mobe while driving should be shot, right after they crash.
I'll 'watch out for bikers' the moment they start watching out for me. Round here a couple of the roads I regularly use are regarded as test tracks by bikers out from Manchester, and I've lost count of the number of times I've met some moron coming round a blind corner on my side of the road.
Like text-drivers and phone-drivers, I really don't mind if they want to kill themselves, but if they take me out as well I'll be extremely peeved ...
Re: They should be shot
Goes for bicyclists and pedestrians too. Just saw two pedestrians texting while walkng today nearly in the soup. One wandered right into traffic and came within a foot and skid marks of wearing tread marks. Just froze and stared when the tires started to squeal. The other tripped on a curb after crossing the street and destroyed her phone, at least she appeared to be collecting pieces from the side walk. I've also seen a bicyclist take out a trash can while texting.
Re: It's only a matter of time...
It is very different to talk to somebody that is there, and to talk to somebody that is elsewhere. It is of course worth looking into by a controlled study like this, and yes talking to passengers are distracting. However it should be less than using a mobile phone. The reason for this is that a passenger is there with you. If a particularly difficult situation arise in the traffic you stop talking and it is quite clear for anybody else there with you that you are preoccupied. Even passengers, at least those that know how to drive, will shut up because they know you are not listening. The counter argument to this is of course that you can do the same on a mobile phone, but the fact of the matter is that you don't, or if you do, you have to process it the decision first. Also in general talking in the telephone is a much more demanding task for the brain that talking to somebody present. Exactly why I do not know, but probably something to do with you spending a lot of time visualizing them and their situation.
I would very much like to see the gender differences in this study. Paris because she has a gender and she is distracting.
Re: Re - They should be shot
"Twice. Then beaten with a pipe."
Closely followed by a Brit apparently. Quite possibly Gene Hunt after he's won the lottery. Tool up lads. As a biker who's nearly been wiped out several times by hapless car drivers messing with their in-car gizmos, I'm all for it.
