A recent article about the dangers of texting while driving has me thinking we need to rethink car safety. In a paper in the latest issue of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, Dr. Robert Rosenberger argues than even hands-free texting using a program like Siri or a system built into the car, texting is still significantly riskier than having a conversation with someone in the car. 
39 states have banned sending text messages while driving. There has been no change in crash-related insurance claims in those states. In some cases claims surprisingly increased after the ban. The authors of one study that investigated the effects of the ban speculated that the increase in accidents may be due to drivers holding the phone below the dashboard to prevent the police from seeing that they’re texting. It may also be that the ban encourages people to use legal handsfree texting, which Dr. Rosenberger believes is distracting enough to affect driving performance.
States with laws against texting either don’t prohibit hands-free texting using programs like Siri or are ambiguous. In states with laws that ban voice calls while driving, none of them bands hands-free calls.
Several studies suggest hands-free voice calls increase risk of accident significantly more than a conversation with a passenger. Dr. Rosenberger suggests this is due to long-developed perception of phone use. This rings true to me. In mobile amateur radio operation, it’s a common practice for a driver to say “break” to indicate they need to focus on the road for a moment. I have never heard this practice on a telephone call.
Dr. Rosenbeerger believe similar habits with text messaging make texting while driving inherently dangerous, even in the case of completely hands-free texting. It may be that the text conversation takes the driver’s mind to a place far from the car, unlike a conversation with a passenger. Interacting with the voice-recognition system is yet another task on top of a text message conversation, and the need to devote some thought to it may contribute to the distraction. These effects may be responsible for increased rates of accidents after bans on handheld texting.
The evidence is not clear yet, but it will not be surprising to me if even using even handsfree texting increases risk. This makes me what would happen if we investigated other perils that may play increase the risks of driving.
- Change in medication
- Listening to audiobooks talk radio
- Changing the radio station.
- Reading a map or GPS
- Hunger
- Anger
- Fatigue
- Eating
- Conversation with a passenger about something outside the car
- Car in disrepair
- Medical condition like epilepsy or cardiac arrhythmia that appears to be controlled but may relapse
If we’re going pass laws asking law enforcement to attempt work out if a driver is using a voice recognition system, we should investigate all factors that complicate driving. We already have made drunk driving is a crime on par with robbery. We would find there are countless other behaviors and conditions that make driving more risky. At first it would seem we have a lot of driver monitoring and stiff penalties to institute to make car travel safer. But car travel will never be safe. When you make 1000 kg vehicles the primary means of transportation, you know they will be used every day under the above-mentioned conditions that may increase risk. It is not surprising that they kill 40,000 people a year in the US. If this is general range of risk is unacceptable, we should be finding alternatives to cars.
It’s hard to argue, though, against a simple measure that saves lives. Maybe we should equip phones and cars with something that discourages even the use of programs like Siri from the driver seat. While we’re at it, maybe we should develop something that prevents the driver from speeding and violating other traffic laws. This will seem invasive, but maybe such automation is one step on the path to fully automated cars which don’t require a driver for most driving, rendering these questions moot.
