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Drivers are distracted by cutting-edge technology crammed into modern cars

 
 
 
 
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Today’s drivers need to constantly interact with various multimedia systems when driving, thus putting their lives at risk.

The cutting-edge infotainment technology, which car makers are persistently stuffing into the dashboard of new cars, is forcing drivers to take their eyes off the road and even hands off the steering wheel for quite long periods of time, which creates dangerous situations. That’s the outcome of an AAA study, which can be read on EssayHelper4You.

The recent study has been conducted by professor David Strayer, University of Utah. He has been researching the influence of infotainment systems on safety since 2013 specially for AAA’s Foundation for Traffic Safety. Previous studies identified issues too, but Strayer stressed that the “wild explosion of technology” has made the situation more dangerous.

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Car makers keep including more options enabling drivers to make use of email, text and social media. The technology is getting more complicated to utilize. Not so long ago, vehicles used to have a few knobs and buttons, but today’s cars boast up to 50 buttons on the steering wheel as well as the dashboard, and all of them are multi-functional. Modern cars are stuffed with voice commands, head-up displays, touch screens, writing pads, not to mention 3-D computer-generated images.

Strayer told that it’s definitely adding more information and layers of complexity at drivers’ fingertips without even considering whether it’s a good idea to offer them all this stuff. The complexity drastically raises the overall amount of time drivers spend attempting to utilize all these systems.

The car industry states that the new systems happen to be better alternatives for drivers compared to navigation devices and cell phones, which weren’t specially designed to be employed when driving.

As a spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, Wade Newton stressed, the vehicle-integrated systems are developed to be employed in the driving environment and respectively require driver attention, which is quite comparable to adjusting climate controls or tuning the radio that have always been considered acceptable behaviors when driving.

On the contrary, AAA’s director for traffic safety advocacy and research, Jake Nelson argued that drivers had to take their eyes off the road and also hands off the steering wheel when making use of infotainment systems in all 2017 models, up to 30 vehicles as well as light trucks, which were researched in this study. They utilized touch screens, voice commands as well as other interactive technologies to send texts, make calls, program navigation or tune the radio when driving.

Apparently, car makers simply haven’t worked hard enough to create the systems easy and quick to employ, as Nelson told. Up to 23 of the 30 cars were rated by researchers as “high” or “very high” in terms of the attention they persistently demanded from car owners. Only seven were considered to be “moderate” in this regard, while none needed a low amount of attention to utilize, which is an extremely alarming outcome.

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