AAA Studies Hands-Free Technology: Driver Distraction Still An Issue
Judy Antell
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Research by AAA shows some hands-free technology can increase driver distraction
Linking your phone to your car’s Bluetooth system should make staying connected safer. But a study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety showed that some hands-free technology actually increased driver distraction.
The accuracy of the voice recognition software had a huge effect on cognitive distraction, and Apple’s voice recognition program, Siri, was worse than all the built-in car hands-free technology tested.
Toyota drivers can rejoice: its Entune system has the lowest cognitive distraction ranking. Hyundai Blue Link had the next lowest distraction level, followed by Chrysler Uconnect, Ford SYNC with MyFord Touch and Mercedes COMAND. Chevrolet MyLink had the highest level of driver distraction.
No matter what system you use, composing text messages and emails using in-car technology is more distracting than using these systems to listen to messages.
Read the full report here – but NOT while you are driving.