Hands-Free Or Voice-Activated Texting Not Safer

Meshach writes "A recent study (PDF) detailed in the Washington Post verifies that using hands-free or voice-activated texting is no safer than texting with your hands while you are driving a car. Using a handheld device to tap out a text message while driving has been banned in many states and provinces. From the article: '"One of the common comments was that they felt an inclination to look down at the screen to see if it heard them correctly, so that could be one possible explanation of why they were not looking at the roadway more frequently," Yager said. She said drivers said they felt safer when using voice-activated texting than when entering messages on a keyboard. "Perhaps it is because they view it as safer and therefore it must be, but still they have this inclination to look down at the screen," she said. "We found that their driving performance suffered equally with both methods." As has been proven in studies of cellphone conversations, Yager said drivers engaged in any form of texting were distracted by the communication effort.'"

only partially agree

[noh8rz10]

In response to a big push by LEO in CA on the cell phone laws, I recently got one of those dorky 90's dash mounts for my phone. it's great because the phone is pretty much in my line of sight, but it's still distracting to activate the voice sms dictation. So I would say it's MUCH better than doing it by hand, but still not as good as not doing it!

Re:only partially agree

[AuMatar]

If you have an android phone, I wrote an app, TextSoundly, that automatically detects when you're moving at driving speeds and turns on voice texting/response.

Re:only partially agree

[TheCarp]

However, the problem is that this study is only looking at reaction time, which is pretty limited of a measure. This is especially true since its also been found that cell phone accidents are likely not entirely caused by reaction time issues.

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2012/08/why-cell-phone-bans-dont-work.html [sciencemag.org]

So, bad drivers, the ones who get in accidents don't just use cell phones, they drive more wrecklessly while using them. They choose to use them at particularly dangerous times. They do, exactly what most people choose not to do.

The problem, quite simply, is not cell phones. They are just the device people have chosen to measure. The problem is not cell phones because, the problem is not reaction time. The problem is judgement and the problem is risk assesment within certain individuals.

Re:Read back

[Dcnjoe60]

That depends. Are you listening to it to verify that your hands free got it correct? If so, then your brain is occupied doing that instead of driving and it is not any safer than looking at the screen. It isn't the fact that your eyes left the road for a split second, it's that your brain quit the driving task and shifted to the texting task and has to shift back to driving again, meanwhile, your car has traveled a football field or so down the highway without you realizing it.