A recent study developed by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety revealed a new risk for drivers. It’s not something coming from the road, but rather a tool placed in many modern cars. We are talking about touchscreen displays and systems operating inside vehicles, which might turn out a bit too distracting for drivers.
Touchscreen systems in a car capture the driver’s attention
For this study, researchers selected a number of 30 cars released over the past years, and found out that all of them contain distracting systems. Some of them have higher chances of capturing the driver’s attention and keeping him from looking at the road, while others are a little less dangerous. Even so, the distraction is present.
The number of deadly car accidents has increased over the past few years, and most of them occurred after drivers got distracted. Also, the number of crashes resulting after drivers directed their attention to something else increased by 8.8 percent over the past few years, and reached 3,477 in 2015.
All the tested car models are distracting to a certain degree
The AAA Foundation split the 30 car models in three groups, according to their distraction levels. Twelve of these had a huge amount of touchscreen systems inside, and were found to contain a very high level of distraction. Eleven other models were situated in the high group, while the other seven were in the moderate category.
Such systems are usually helpful, as they can display directions and localizations. However, they also contain music services, phone, or radio, which can easily capture the driver’s attention. This is why the foundation wants to urge carmakers to improve these systems, and prevent people from using them while the car is moving.
Among the most distracting car models, belonging to the very high group, there are Audi Q7 QPP, Chrysler 300 C, Dodge Durango GT, Ford Mustang GT, or GMC Yukon SLT.
Image Source: Flickr
Roxanne Briean
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