‘Talking Windshields’ May Cut Down on Car Crashes
Alternative to cell phones may be safer, British researchers say
HealthScoutNews — Using a “talking windshield” instead of a mobile phone while driving could reduce the risk of accidents.
That’s the claim of Oxford University researchers, whose research on the subject appears in a recent issue of Psychological Science.
Drivers using mobile phones are four times more likely to be in an accident than other drivers. And there’s evidence that using a hands-free phone is as much a problem for drivers as using a hand-held phone.
That suggests the distraction of a driver’s attention while using a phone is what really contributes to the increased accident risk, not the physical handling of a phone.
In their study, the British researchers found the physical location in a car from which a person’s voice is heard can influence a driver’s concentration. It was easier for drivers to divide their attention between eye and ear if sources of information came from the same direction.
In the study, volunteers were placed in an advanced driving simulator. A real-time, three-dimensional scene of the outside world was displayed on a screen in front of the simulator’s windshield.
The study participants had to perform a listening and speaking task while “driving” around suburban and inner city roads. A loudspeaker placed directly in front of the driver and another loudspeaker placed at one side of the driver alternately played words that the driver had to repeat — a task called shadowing.
The drivers in the study found it much easier to combine the driving and shadowing tasks when the voice came from the loudspeaker in front of them, compared to when the voice came from the side.
The researchers say this shows that people find it much easier to look and listen in the same direction. That’s likely because humans evolved to see and hear things that originated in the same location.
Driving safety could be increased by placing flat-screen phone speakers by the windshield in front of the driver, the researchers suggest.
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