Beyond Distraction

The future is full of possibilities – and, apparently, so is the personal automobile.

Regarded as futuristic not so very long ago, new technology and devices bring with them the same old debate: could versus should.

As the mind-boggling array of tools/toys exits the domain of luxury and approaches standard fare, mind-boggling, too, is the potential for some gadgetry to serve as a vehicle for distraction.

Of course, technology can also be used for good. It can provide a modern kick in the pants to stop people from doing what they already know they should not be doing, or can serve as a gentler reminder. Consider scalable video cameras that, when integrated with vehicle chassis systems, offer driver assist functions to avoid accidents caused by lane drift.

Figures from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in the United States show that roadway departure is the cause of 53% of road fatalities.

Beyond lane departure warnings, the cameras are said to offer forward collision warning, headlight control, traffic sign recognition and pedestrian detection.

Or consider the technology customers of a U.S. provider can use to block mobile phone calls, texts, e-mails, Internet and other smartphone applications until the car is at a full stop, a clear attempt to fight distraction head-on. A free app – using non-pairing Bluetooth technology that works with several types of devices – can be downloaded and a device plugged into the car’s on-board diagnostics port.

Washington, D.C.-based Auto Alliance reports that six in 10 consumers taking part in an opinion poll said they would be interested in getting driver assist technologies such as lane departure, blind spot monitoring and pedestrian detection when buying a vehicle.

Some assists are geared at producing safer driving; others seem fuelled by distraction.

Of the more than 65,000 people killed in car crashes

in the U.S. over the past two years, one in 10 were in crashes where at least one of the drivers was distracted, notes police data in the Fatality Analysis Reporting System.

Information from the Ontario Provincial Police notes motorists are 23 times more likely to become involved in a collision while texting.

Although texting is among the most dangerous activities while driving, distracted driving refers to all forms of distracted or inattentive driving, the OPP points out.

Officers laid almost 16,000 distracted driving charges across the province in 2012 and continue to see careless drivers texting and talking on their phones and engaging in other forms of distraction every day, the OPP reports.

Last year, 83 people were killed in motor vehicle collisions within OPP jurisdiction in which distracted driving was a causal factor. In British Columbia, RCMP Traffic Services reported recently preliminary statistics for 2012 show 37% of all motor vehicle-related injuries and 30% of fatalities at least partially involved distracted driving. And in Manitoba, Manitoba Public Insurance notes more than 160 road deaths have been linked to distracted driving since 2005.

It may not be a matter as simple as hand-held versus hands-free. “The crash risk associated with hands-free texting while driving is not as well-understood because in-car voice-to-text technology is relatively new,” states a report released in May by the Traffic Injury Research Foundation. But recent studies “support the contention that hands-free texting while driving poses significant distraction, and, consequently, unacceptable crash risk.”

In April, the NHTSA issued voluntary guidelines that encourage automakers to limit the distraction risk connected to electronic devices built into vehicles. The guidelines include recommendations to limit the time a driver must take his or her eyes off the road to perform any task to two seconds at a time, and 12 seconds in total.

It is unlikely that new technology and assists will stop being included in personal vehicles – that genie is out of the bottle – but a bit of common sense and reserve will greatly help to avoid wreckage that straddles property and life alike.