Now Which? weighs-in on driver distraction problem

[Darren]

Back in February I wrote about the issue of in-car technology causing driver distraction (see here). In May the US US National Highway Transportation Safety Administration issued the first ever guidelines for in-car electronic devices, in a bid to reduce driver distraction.

Now consumer organisation Which? has said that touch screens, integrated phones and satnavs, installed in many vehicles, are too complicated to use. An investigation by Which? revealed that 70 per cent of drivers found in-car technology distracting and took their attention away from the road.

Which? magazine is now calling on the motor industry to adopt guidelines on the use of in-car tech and has produced its own charter which seeks to ensure that controls are made easier to use, displays are placed higher on the dash and that voice control is employed more widely.

Source: Which

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Darren Griffin

[PedroStephano]

For me the problem is consistency as well. Every manufacturer is sooooo different.
Buy an Audi for example, and dedicate three hours of your life to RTFM and learning the steps to "drive" the various in-car menus.
Change your car? New manual, new steps, new functions. All part of the fun of buying a new car I suppose, but my solution is to have a PND that's transferable from one car to another, thus offering consistency of controls, less confusion and less distraction. And my iPhone. Naturellement.

I don't think Which? will win on this drive. There's far too much political clout amongst the car industry, and they all want to differentiate and meet customer demands, so I see all this technology as being part of the furniture for a while to come. Bad for distraction levels? Yes indeed. Every manufacturer different? Yes indeed.
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iOS rokcs (but my typing - well....)
@PedroStephano

[MikeB]

I think someone at Which has missed the point here. A device may be complicated to use when setting a destination, but not when driving. Once your destination is set then you do not need to touch the device until you arrive at your destination. What is distracting about that?

Now of course people who try and program a SatNav on the move are a different kettle of fish. SatNavs are not designed to be operated whilst moving. The simple way of preventing these problems is to prevent user interaction whilst the device is on the move.

I also found the US guidelines laughable. In the US many states still allow you to use your phone in your hand when driving what is more distracting than that?

Are these institutions targeting SatNavs because they are more controversial and bigger news than regular cellphones? Is the result of this that these institutions get more publicity for SatNav bashing than cellphone bashing?
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Mike Barrett

[h5djr]

I agree that Sat Navs once setup are not really a distraction at all. All you have to do is listern to the instructions. On most units you can even turn the screen display off as well.

I drive an Audi and what does worry me is the number of people on an Audi forum who are looking for instructions on how to stop the DVD or even television on the in-built system in the centre console from automatically turning OFF when are moving.

They always say it's so that the front seat passenger can continue to watch it, but it's fully in the drivers field of vision and I'm sure they are going to be looking at the screen at some times which will be potentionally very dangerous.
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Dave R (h5djr)

TomTom XL + Audi A3 (with navigation)

[Darren]

To be fair to Which?, they weren't solely focussing on satnav.
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Darren Griffin

[Guivre46]

....and why is TT putting social networking functions on its devices?
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Mike R [aka Wyvern46]
Go 530T - unsupported
Go550 Live [not renewed]
Kia In-dash Tomtom

[Andy_P]

[h5djr]

[Cunninar]

"An investigation by Which? revealed that 70 per cent of drivers found in-car technology distracting and took their attention away from the road."

Beware misleading statistics - headline number implies that given 30m plus drivers (conservative estimate) on the road they have surveyed 21m of them to get this result. Ridiculous and yes, I am a statistician and understand sampling. There is no contextual data here to prove the stats. Did they include the drivers who are distracted by looking at the speedo (in car technology!)?

I also have a gripe about the "Killed or Seriously Injured" stats bandied around to do with speed camera and road safety. Killed is a definite number, but seriously injured is subjective. A badly cut finger needing stitches could be construed a serious injury, but is a long way from death. It is time these figures were split and categorised correctly to prevent the council and government money grabbers from conning us all about the real statistics.

[M8TJT]

[joneskdale]

I love technology and my car is full of it. And I've had SatNav since it was on the first PDA's. I don't generally find technology distracting to the contrary it gives me something to keep my interest on the journey and alert. All these statistics comparing reaction times etc don't reflect real life. Yes if you measure the times for someone's best reaction times when they are fully concentrating on driving you will get a faster reaction time, but in reality drivers are not always concentrating on the driving there are many distraction and peoples start thinking of what are the cooking for dinner or the attractive young lady in the office next door.

Where I do find technology distracting / dangerous is when it doesn't work properly. You are following the satnav and then just as you come upto a junction it decides to restart and needs you to re-enter the destination. Or you voice dial your partner and it starts calling someone who you don't want to speak to. In these situations you find yourself feeling you need to fix it now, and not at time when it is convenient/safe. It also make you more aggressive and irritated which can reflect in your driving. I'm sure you all have experienced this in the past.

As long as Technology is used at the right times and it Works reliably it can be a great safety aid and can help the drivers overall concentration. But when it goes wrong it can be a distraction.

[eclaire]

The new cars have so much on the menu you can page through - averages, data, fuel consumption and all that sort of irrelevant stuff personally I find that much more distracting than a sat nav.

[jga40]

I totally disagree with 'Which' magazine that all Sat Nav cause driver distraction, quite the opposite. It allows me to concentrate on my driving. Being a disabled driver, I drive an automatic Nissan Qashqai which is fitted with Nissan Connect which includes a Sat Nav manufactured by Bosch. If I'm setting off to a destination I'm not familiar with, I input my destination on my drive and in the two years I've had the vehicle from new my Sat Nav has never let me down and your excellent weekly updates for safety cameras makes it easy for me not to inadvertently exceed the speed limit.

I'm not aware of how good or bad other Sat Nav systems perform but I have seen other drivers fiddling with their Sat Nav systems whilst driving, which is pretty muck akin to using a hand held cell phone whilst driving. Like many of the 'gadgets' fitted in modern cars they are only as good as the driver using them. I passed my driving test when I was 19 years of age and I'm now 71 and have had a clean licence all my life. My driving has much improved since
I purchased my Nissan Qashqai thanks to my Sat Nav which has a reversing camera and the excellent database Pocket GPS World provides for a very small annual subscription.

[Bigbudgie]

It's really quite simple I would have thought. All these fancy buttons & knobs should be disabled as soon as the car begins moving. The only things that should remain "active" are the essentials, Lights, indicators, wipers and heating/ventilation. There is absolutely no need for all the fancy, integrated claptrap which seems to be "de rigeur" these days. Certainly not if it's operated by on-screen menus which you have to look at.
My only experience of such is with my TomTom one. One of the first things the book tells you is that you should not attempt to use it whilst driving. I once did, on a deserted stretch of road just to see if I could. It was NOT easy and I almost left the road a couple of times, just the rumble strip saved the day. I also found it impossible to hold a steady speed, and had a policeman seen me, he would probably have "done" me.
It was far and by far worse than trying to use a mobile on the move, for which I have a sun visor bluetooth gizmo with voice dialling. It cost £10 and works perfectly. More than I can say for the integrated system in a mates brand new car!
I strongly believe (and hope) it's just a passing fad and that sanity will eventually prevail!

[Cunninar]

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