Driving While Voice Texting Is Still Distracted

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Drivers in a simulator reacted slowly to sudden traffic emergencies regardless of whether they were thumbing texts into smartphones or dictating them to Google Glass. Larry Greenemeier reports. Oct 2, 2014 | |

You don’t need to be in a car crash or to see the to know that you should never . A driver simply at the same time. Taking your eyes off the road for even five seconds at 55 miles per hour is like driving the length of a football field blindfolded.But could a head-mounted, voice-controlled display like Google Glass solve the ?In a word, “No,” .Researchers found that drivers in a simulator reacted slowly to sudden traffic emergencies regardless of whether they were thumbing texts into their smartphones or dictating them to Google Glass.Glass-wearing drivers did recover more quickly from near accidents than hand-texters. Could be because they weren’t fishing around on the floor for their dropped smartphone.The real problem is driver multitasking. Texting is especially problematic because it involves . Glass doesn’t completely eliminate the problem because simply looking at the road doesn’t necessarily mean you’re paying attention to it.—Larry Greenemeier

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