Institute of Advanced Motorists call for changes to car interiors and complicated Electronics.

TMW THOUGHTS

I fully agree with these findings from the IAM, cars are getting more and more complicated, the miriad of button, dials, and knobs makes every journey that little bit longer, the Sat-Nav on the latest Citroen C4 Cactus is so confusing and not at all easy to use, makes you NOT want to use it, the touchscreens on some makes are so very complicated, and with buttons so very small, you have to take you eyes off the road for more than the two seconds that the IAM recommends.

I also agree that some of the tech should be "locked" once the car is in motion, to stop you from playing with them, it would be quite interesting to see what the percentage of accidents today are caused by people not watching the roads, and concentrating on iPods, Phones, tablet screens etc, either way, whilst we, the customer demand these things, they manufacturers will continue to supply them, until, of course, governments, dictate that they are either locked, removed or banned altogether.

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The Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) has warned that car manufacturers are building high-tech distractions into their new vehicles and have made interiors so comfortable they are being turned into living rooms.

The warning came from IAM chief executive officer Sarah Sillars, who said efforts to reduce distraction factors for motorists are being undone by the relentless pace of technology and eagerness of car makers to pack more gadgets onto dashboards.

She said the main areas of concern were highly sophisticated satellite-navigation and GPS systems, smartphones that mirror tablets and easy connectivity of internet and social media.

The IAM has suggested the UK should adopt guidelines suggested by the US Department of Transportation and National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA).

They say drivers should be restricted from using certain non-essential forms of technology while the vehicle is in motion, and car makers should not introduce any technological development which takes the driver’s attention off the road for longer than two seconds (reference 1).

These voluntary guidelines are to be phased in over the next three years to address this large-scale problem in the USA.

US Federal data figures showed in 2011 that accidents involving a distracted driver killed 3,331 people and injured another 387,000 (reference 2).

And for younger drivers the problem is worse. Car accidents are the main cause of death of teenagers (as it is for all people aged between five and 34), and a quarter of all teen-driving crashes in the US are attributed to distracted driving (reference 3).

Sarah said: “We cannot allow the same trends in the USA to happen here. While car makers work constantly to incorporate active and passive safety features into vehicles, making us safer than ever before, they are also guilty of making us too comfortable and making us feel more cosseted – like we were in our own living rooms.”

The IAM says as technology constantly changes, continued education campaigns are required to reinforce and update the current laws (reference 4).

Sarah concluded: “Technology could be a great way of helping to cut the numbers of people killed and seriously injured on our roads. It would be a tragedy if technology became a reason why more, rather than less, people lose their lives.”

Reference 1: 

http://www.nhtsa.gov/About+NHTSA/Press+Releases/U.S.+DOT+Releases+Guidelines+to+Minimize+In-Vehicle+Distractions

Reference 2: 

http://www.cdc.gov/Motorvehiclesafety/Distracted_Driving/index.html

Reference 3:

http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811737.pdf

Reference 4: 

http://www.iam.org.uk/media-and-research/policy/our-policies/mobile-phones

The IAM is the UK’s largest independent road safety charity, dedicated to improving standards and safety in driving and motorcycling. 

The commercial division of the IAM operates through its occupational driver training company IAM Drive & Survive. The IAM has more than 200 local volunteer groups and over 100,000 members in the UK and Ireland. 

It is best known for the advanced driving test and the advanced driving and motorcycling courses. Its policy and research division offers advice and expertise on road safety.