Technology Can Support Ban on Driving While Texting

Recently Ford announced their support for laws against Driving While Texting (DWT). This could help drive customers to their Sync solution with voice command capabilities. I would hope that a ban against DWT would help, but, according to some studies, the risk of an accident is still significant even with hands-free devices. The National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration (NHTSA) released a study in July of 2009 that stated there is “little, if any, difference between the use of hand-held and hands-free phones in contributing to the risk of a crash while driving distracted. Hands-free or hand-held, we have found that the cognitive distraction is significant enough to degrade a driver’s performance. We recommend that drivers not use these devices when driving, except in an emergency. Moreover, we are convinced that legislation forbidding the use of handheld cell phones while driving may not be effective in improving highway safety since it will not address the problem. In fact, such legislation may erroneously imply that hands-free phones are safe to use while driving.”

Technology can help make our roads safer and enforce laws but should be chosen carefully. Some technologies such as texting through voice commands are focused on eliminating the problem. However, if voice commands also distract drivers, the technology is too narrow in focus, and may only shift the problem. Another limitation of this approach is the adoption rate. Not everyone will be able to purchase a technology that eliminates a problem such as DWT.

Other technologies focus on enforcing a law. There are a couple of basic ways that technology has been used in law enforcement in the past: confirming a violation and automatically ticketing for infractions. Using a breathalyzer is a good example of how a driver suspicious of a DWI can be confirmed. Traffic light cameras check for running a red-light and can automatically ticket in many cases.

So regardless of whether DWT become illegal or not, technology should be considered for avoiding and detecting dangerous driving practices as appropriate. Parents and businesses can use the technology to monitor with or without a law and, for now, drivers can adopt voice-controlled texting if they believe it will help reduce distractions.