Vehicle touchscreens a growing road risk
Vehicle touchscreens mean drivers are taking their eyes off the road up to three seconds longer than before.
An extensive research programme carried out by the Allianz Center for Technology found that driver distraction is a direct or indirect cause of one in three crashes, with vehicle touchscreens a key factor.
The report, ‘SWIPE. TAP. CRASH. Driver distraction in the digital car,’ concluded that a number of functions that used to be operated intuitively and without taking one’s eyes off the road are increasingly being moved to digital menus.
As a result, drivers now take their eyes off the road for longer periods of time and more frequently.
This was backed up by an international survey which revealed 79% of motorists said in-car technology has made distraction worse in recent years, with 53% rating the risk as high or very high.
Meanwhile 73% of drivers involved in collisions in the past three years agreed that distraction definitely or possible played a role.
Dr Christian Sahr, managing director of the Allianz Center for Technology, said: “Real-world driving studies conducted as part of the research programme show that the design of the vehicle’s touchscreen interface has a significant impact on how long drivers take their eyes off the road while operating it.
“Depending on the task and cockpit concept, total off-road glance time differed by up to 25% — around three seconds for identical tasks.
“To ensure safe vehicle operation, clear recommendations are needed on which functions should be controlled via physical switches and which via touchscreen. At the same time, scientific insights into human-machine interaction should be applied consistently to design touchscreen interfaces that distract drivers as little as possible from the road.”
