Technology often enhances the lives of Missouri and Illinois residents in exciting ways, leading to advances in medicine and entertainment that improves their qualities of lives. Tragically, however, improved technology can also put those lives at risk of injury or even death. This seems to be especially true when it comes to the choice of car manufacturers to create cars that are becoming more and more distracting for their drivers. Driver distraction is one of the biggest dangers for causing fatal car accidents across our country.
One technological advancement being manufactured into cars getting a lot of attention lately is that of smartphone compatibility. For those who are unfamiliar with the technology, this is what allows someone to press a button—often on the steering wheel or somewhere on the dash—and use voice activation to send a text message or access some other feature on their smartphone. A big problem with this increasingly popular technology is that it takes driver’s attention off the road, whether for a split second or several, and puts both them and other innocent people at risk of vehicle collisions.
In fact, two recently released studies show that these so-called “infotainment systems” being placed in vehicles are not necessarily safer than using a cell phone without such a system while driving. Those Chrysler, Ford, and Mercedes systems that were tested all scored ratings that marked them as being more distracting than cell phone use alone. Hyundai’s system was marked as comparing to holding a passenger or phone conversation while driving. Toyota’s system apparently got the best marks, apparently “only” distracting drivers as much as listening to the radio. Of course, as many Missouri and Illinois residents know, fiddling with car radios can also be dangerously distracting and lead to fatal car accidents.
Users of iPhones may be quick to believe their use of Apple’s Siri voice-activation system via their smartphones is safer than the systems actually built into vehicles, but that’s just not the case. Siri actually scored as being even more distracting than the car systems if Siri wasn’t being used with CarPlay or Siri Eyes Free. One of the most frightening statistics from the study is the fact that two of the participants actually rear-ended another vehicle while Siri was in use.
Not too surprisingly, the biggest factor in how dangerous using these infotainment systems can be deals with how long someone interacts with their digital devices. Additionally, those systems which are less prone to error may be considered less dangerous. The bottom line from these studies, however, is that just because a system is “hands-free” and voice-activated doesn’t mean it is safe.
Those who have been injured in serious car accidents, or lost loved ones in fatal car accidents, may benefit from dialing my St. Louis personal injury law firm 1-888-586-7041 to discuss their legal rights. My law firm has experience in representing the victims and surviving families affected by driver distraction in filing civil lawsuits. This can help obtain financial restitution from those whose negligence is believed to have caused a vehicle collision. It can be important to act quickly in the wake of a serious crash in order to preserve valuable evidence to strengthen your case. We can schedule a free initial consultation to help protect your rights at your earliest convenience, and you owe us nothing until and only if we obtain compensation on your behalf.
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Source Article: http://arstechnica.com/cars/2014/10/driving-with-voice-activated-infotainment-is-really-distracting-studies-say/ and http://kansascity.legalexaminer.com/automobile-accidents/cars-are-becoming-more-distracting/