![]() None of the 275 more serious property damage and injury crashes analyzed were associated with the use of hands-free systems. In some cases, hands-free cell phone use was associated with a lower crash rate than the control group. When a combination of cognitive secondary tasks was observed, the crash risk also went up, although not to nearly the same degree. For comparison, they also studied examples of drivers performing visual and manual activities, such as texting on a hand-held phone or adjusting the radio.ĭrivers who used a hand-held phone increased their crash risk by 2 to 3.5 times compared to model drivers, defined as being alert, attentive, and sober. Using video and other sensor data from the Second Strategic Highway Research Program naturalistic driving study, the largest light-vehicle study of its kind ever conducted, Dingus and the research team analyzed video footage of 3,454 drivers, 905 crashes (including 275 more serious crashes), and 19,732 control periods of "normal driving" for instances of cognitive distraction. Examples include interacting with a passenger, singing in the car, talking on a hands-free cell phone, and dialing on a hands-free phone via voice-activated software. Cognitive distractions occupy the mind but do not require the driver to look away from the road or remove his or her hands from the wheel. The goal of the project was to determine the extent to which crash risk could be affected by primarily mental behaviors, known as cognitive distractions. However, our recent study has found that the primarily cognitive secondary task of talking on a hands-free device does not appear to have any detrimental effects," said Tom Dingus, director of VTTI and the principal investigator of the study. "Any activity that places either visual or manual demands on the driver - texting, browsing or dialing a hand-held phone, for instance - substantially increases crash risk. With hands-free technology, drivers can make calls and perform a variety of other tasks while still keeping their hands on the wheel and eyes on the road.
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