days more and more states are clamping down on texting and cell phones
while driving, requiring hands-free devices, but do these unique devices
work and do they make us safer?
Gizmag tells us of a new device that allows people to text hands-free.
Since texting is so popular, perhaps it will sell well.
explains the basic StartTalking for Android is a free application that
allows driver's eyes and attention to remain on the road all the while
they can receive or send text messages. He sees great value in this,
because he cites the statistics that, 25 percent of which admit texting while driving, but for the visually impaired as well. AdelaVoice
But the question remains: are these really safer?
These
questions have been raised for nearly ten years by university and road
safety researchers. Some people believe hands-free devices actually put
more people at risk because the public presumes that they solve the
problem. What happens is people adjust the gadgets while driving, set
up microphones, rearrange the device, adjust the volume and take time
and attention away from the actual driving.
Voice-activated
devices aren't 100% accurate and without errors, so people have to make
compensations on the road as well. Still there are more than just
ergonomic problems.
A
study done in 2001 that those cell phone users with or without
hands-free devices missed twice as many signals than if they were not
using the phones at all. The researchers found that the amount of
visual information processed is reduced by 50%.
Safety
experts quote
Paul Atchley, University of Kansas psychology professor, "Hands free
devices are probably only safer under very limited circumstances. My own
work uses hands-free devices, and we see reductions in attention in 20
year-old drivers that reduces their attention to the level we might see
in an 85 year-old driver."
experts quote
Paul Atchley, University of Kansas psychology professor, "Hands free
devices are probably only safer under very limited circumstances. My own
work uses hands-free devices, and we see reductions in attention in 20
year-old drivers that reduces their attention to the level we might see
in an 85 year-old driver."
Natchitoches, Louisiana is representative of most of the country. There are no laws that require hands-free devices in the City of Natchitoches, but even they would not make us safer, as research indicates.
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