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posted by CoolHand on Sunday October 25 2015, @11:41PM   Printer-friendly
from the hardly-surprising dept.

If you think it is okay to talk to your car infotainment system or smartphone while driving or even when stopped at a red light, think again. It takes up to 27 seconds to regain full attention after issuing voice commands, University of Utah researchers found in a pair of new studies for the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.

One of the studies showed that it is highly distracting to use hands-free voice commands to dial phone numbers, call contacts, change music and send texts with Microsoft Cortana, Apple Siri and Google Now smartphone personal assistants, though Google Now was a bit less distracting than the others.

The other study examined voice-dialing, voice-contact calling and music selection using in-vehicle information or "infotainment" systems in 10 model-year 2015 vehicles. Three were rated as moderately distracting, six as highly distracting and the system in the 2015 Mazda 6 as very highly distracting.

"Just because these systems are in the car doesn't mean it's a good idea to use them while you are driving," says University of Utah psychology professor David Strayer, senior author of the two new studies. "They are very distracting, very error prone and very frustrating to use. Far too many people are dying because of distraction on the roadway, and putting another source of distraction at the fingertips of drivers is not a good idea. It's better not to use them when you are driving."


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 27 2015, @07:03AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 27 2015, @07:03AM (#255015)

    Holy shit! People like you terrify me...

  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday October 27 2015, @07:09AM

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday October 27 2015, @07:09AM (#255018) Journal

    Why? He gets a ticket in a decade, why should he be scary? Because he lives in a different world than you do? Because he is ALIEN?!?! Perhaps you are xenophobic.