Large screens in in new vehicles perform a range of functions for drivers, from changing the temperature and lowering the volume, to showing text messages or finding a movie theatre.Jason Tchir/The Globe and Mail
The Ontario Provincial Police announced last week that the number of fatal collisions caused by distracted driving has increased by more than 40 per cent compared to the same period in 2023. Sixty-three (21 per cent) of the 296 fatal crashes in the province so far in 2024 were caused by distracted driving. In contrast, a year ago at this time 43 (15 per cent) of 287 fatalities had distracted driving as the primary cause.
Some were shocked.
Horrified, sure, but shocked?
That’s like going for a walk in the woods after slathering yourself in honey and being shocked when bears attack.
That’s like being shocked that your ears ring after you spend 12 hours listening to Norwegian death metal on your earbuds at the maximum volume.
That’s like being shocked that drivers can be distracted in cars with giant digital screens where they must use the screens to perform almost every basic function from changing the temperature to lowering the volume. Those screens can also show you text messages or be used to order a pizza or find a movie theatre.
Distracted driving on the increase, how can this possibly be?
The evidence has been there for years. A 2021 Canadian Automobile Association survey found 79 per cent of Canadian drivers admitted to being distracted while driving. A 2022 study by Rates.ca found 83 per cent of Canadians admitted to distracted driving and 43 per cent confessed to a technological distraction, such as texting while driving.
Besides, driving practically begs for distraction. It combines soul-crushing monotony with mind-bending frustration, cut with moments of utter terror. It’s the kind of activity — like having a cavity filled or watching a presidential debate — that you like to be distracted from. It thirsts for it. If you install super-high-tech entertainment systems in all of our massive death-crawlers (SUVs) and everyday four-wheeled killing machines (automobiles) then you are going to have distracted drivers.
An American Automobile Association Foundation study discovered vehicle infotainment systems create more distractions for drivers. “Drivers using in-vehicle technologies such as voice-based and touch screen features were visually and mentally distracted for more than 40 seconds when completing tasks like programming navigation or sending a text message,” the report states.
Distracted driving has always been a concern. When car radios were introduced in the 1930s, critics said they were dangerous distractions. Some U.S. states proposed laws to ban car radios and other states proposed steep fines for using the radios.
The problem of distraction first received significant global attention in 1997 with the release of a report by Donald Redelmeier and Robert Tibshirani, with the University of Toronto’s Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. They found that talking on a phone while driving quadrupled the risk of a collision, comparable to the odds of a collision while driving drunk. The study prompted a global movement to create regulations to curb cellphone use while driving.
That was almost three decades ago. We have implemented numerous regulations against distracted driving since then and the dangerous habit is showing no signs of slowing. According to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), around 13 per cent of crashes caused by distracted driving involve the use of a smartphone.
For many years it was fashionable to believe that it is the driver’s hands that were the problem. Once we got rid of the Herculean burden of holding these devices, we believed, we would be free from distraction.
But just because we don’t have to hold a device, doesn’t mean it isn’t distracting.
There are three main types of distracted driving. Drivers can be distracted by visual distractions that divert their eyes from the road, manual distractions that cause them to take a hand off the steering wheel or cognitive distractions that cause them to think about something other than driving. In-car infotainment systems combine all three.
Safety organizations are paying attention.
The European New Car Assessment Program (NCAP), a consumer vehicle safety rating organization, changed its protocols to require physical controls for key functions. Cars will need buttons to earn a five-star rating. “The overuse of touchscreens is an industry-wide problem, with almost every vehicle maker moving key controls onto central touchscreens, obliging drivers to take their eyes off the road and raising the risk of distraction crashes,” Matthew Avery, director of strategic development at Euro NCAP, told The Sunday Times newspaper.
Life has always had distractions. In the classical age, an ancient Roman might have been distracted by the sight of the Pantheon, but he was most likely on foot. The worst thing that could happen was that he bumped into someone and knocked over a basket of chestnuts. If Cicero were transported to the present, he would observe our distraction and repeat his adage that, “To make a mistake is only human; to persist in a mistake is idiotic.”
We may not be Romans, but we certainly are persistent. Maybe, just maybe cars don’t need intuitive in-car operating systems that boast next-generation display and operating elements, and ultra-high-performance connectivity. Putting my coffee mug into the cup holder is distracting enough.