Using in-car screens more dangerous than using cannabis!

Latest Brown Car Guy Update 18032020 #BCGDaily

Research by IAM Roadsmart presents some alarming revelations about the dangers of using in-car infotainment systems – apparently your reaction times are significantly slower than someone who had used cannabis and five times worse than someone driving at the legal limit of alcohol consumption. Interestingly this relates a little to my recent article on DriveTribe

From the press release:

Worrying results from a new study released today show that the latest in-vehicle infotainment systems, designed to improve road safety, are failing and impair reactions times behind the wheel more than alcohol and cannabis use.

Among the shocking results, the study – commissioned by the UK’s largest independent road-safety charity, IAM RoadSmart, found that reaction times at motorway speeds increased average stopping distances to between four and five car lengths. The study also found that drivers took their eyes off the road for as long as 16 seconds while driving (equivalent to a distance of more than 500 metres at 70 mph), and using touch control resulted in reaction times that were even worse than texting while driving.

The key findings from the report are:

• Controlling the vehicle’s position in the lane and keeping a consistent speed and headway to the vehicle in front suffered significantly when interacting with either Android Auto or Apple CarPlay, particularly when using touch control
• Participants failed to react as often to a stimulus on the road ahead when engaging with either Android Auto or Apple CarPlay – with reaction times being more than 50 per cent slower
• Reaction time to a stimulus on the road ahead was slower when selecting music through Spotify while using Android Auto and Apple CarPlay (via touch control rather than voice control), compared to texting while driving (based on previous studies)
• Use of either system via touch control caused drivers to take their eyes off the road for longer than 12 seconds. This does not meet the guidelines set out by NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration). When using voice control all measures were within NHTSA guidelines
• Participants underestimated the time they thought they spent looking away from the road, by as much as five seconds, when engaging with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay via touch control

To find out the full findings of the study, please visit: www.iamroadsmart.com/infotainment

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