Driving Forward

‘Tis the season to think about giving… and getting.

And if that gift to self includes a fine new automobile, no doubt the newest and coolest technology will be part of the conversation, if not the actual purchase.

All of these new things – back-over protection, front crash prevention, park assist, lane departure warning, blind spot detection and adaptive this, that and the other – are all good. All should help avoid collisions and, in turn, deaths, injuries and losses.

However, the concern comes with the influence all this good may be having on overall driving. When things are done for drivers, how much attention are they giving to the task of driving?

Driving has cognitive, sensory, motor and physical demands, and is certainly far more than strapping in for a quick drive to wherever.

Now add the availability of other technologies in many cars – those not focused on crash avoidance, but rather convenience or entertainment – as well as devices voluntarily brought into vehicles. That challenged attention could easily ratchet up to distraction. And distraction, everyone would agree, is certainly no good… for motorists, their insurers or anyone else on the road.

A study released in June by the Washington, D.C.-based AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety suggests that text-to-speech e-mail can impair driving despite there being no need for drivers to take their eyes off the road or their hands off the wheel. Driver performance was measured while, among other things, listening to a radio, talking to a passenger, talking on either a hands-free or a hand-held cellphone, and using text-to-speech e-mail.

The last task was found to be the most cognitively distracting. “This clearly suggests that the adoption of voice-based systems in the vehicle may have unintended consequences that adversely affect traffic safety,” notes a foundation statement.

The recommendation to auto-makers? “These increasingly common voice-driven, in-vehicle technologies should be limited to use for just core driving tasks unless the activity results in no significant driver distraction,” Robert Darbelnet, president and chief executive officer of AAA, says in the statement.

But survey results released by State Farm in November show getting people to keep their mitts off their devices may be a big ask. Even as a large majority of polled drivers in the United States support laws banning phone use while driving, motorists continue to use them.

Where do they use their devices most? Almost two-thirds, 63%, said while at a red light and 30% said while on an open highway.Perhaps more troubling, even though respondents said they would be less likely to use their phones in certain conditions – including when dark, foggy, snowing, icy or in heavy traffic – that recognition did not necessarily extend to understanding that driving demands full attention whatever the conditions.

Over the six years the State Farm survey has been done, there has been a steady reduction in the number of drivers talking on hand-held cellphones, but the number of people who text while driving has remained stable.

As well, there has been a significant increase in drivers using their phones to access the Internet, read e-mail, respond to e-mail, program and listen to a navigation system, and read social media.

One would think there is no longer a need to discuss the dangers and costs of distracted driving, but one would be wrong.

There is no shortage of reminders about still more charges for people caught engaged in the activity – presumably far fewer than the actual number of perpetrators on the roads.

Saskatchewan is just one jurisdiction to offer up some unnerving stats. Following a blitz in August, Saskatchewan Government Insurance reported that law enforcement issued 319 tickets for distracted driving that month. Of those, 228 were for phone use while driving; 91 were for driving without due care and attention.

Really? To say distraction kills is trite, but it most certainly can and does.

So when toy and want meets cold hard facts, motorists should simply kick distracted driving to the curb.