You may have been in a vehicle in which you or the driver has had to command the navigation system by using voice commands. If so, you may have enjoyed a good laugh, as the system may not have recognized what you said and turned the air conditioning off instead. While these encounters may be funny, they can also be frustrating and cause drivers great distraction while driving.
Although vehicle manufacturers are attempting to make cars safer by installing voice-command technology to control navigation systems and to send emails and text messages while drivers have the car in motion, a recent study revealed that using voice commands may be more dangerous than previously thought.
According to a study funded by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, psychologist David Strayer and colleagues at the University of Utah found that using voice recognition to command devices while driving is dangerous. In fact, researchers found that this activity produced “a relatively high level of cognition distraction.”
Additionally, researchers found that using speech recognition to send emails or text messages was more dangerous than just talking on the phone while driving; however, even talking on the phone while driving is a distraction.
Unfortunately, it appears that car companies are trying to move everything to speech recognition in vehicles in an attempt to make drivers safer; however, it “may actually overload the driver and make them less safe,” said Strayer. The concern AAA has is that in-vehicle technologies may create a public safety crisis in the future, as these technologies are creating mental distractions at the wheel.
As Norcross accident attorneys, we encourage drivers to not make calls or send emails or texts—even using hands-free devices—while the car is in motion. If you have been injured in a Gwinnett County, Georgia car accident, or a crash anywhere in Georgia due to a distracted driver, please call Shane Smith Law at (980) 246-2656 for a free initial case consultation today.