Danger on the Dashboard

By Catherine Powell

Image courtesy of wikimedia

Back when I was growing up, cars weren’t nearly as technologically advanced as they are nowadays.  They didn’t contain web-enabled, Bluetooth-connected apps that talked you through every turn to your destination or provided you with data on your driving habits and fuel consumption.  No, all that cars did forty years ago was get you from Point A to Point B, provided you knew the route or owned a map.  If you weren’t careful, you could easily run out of gas, since there was only one dumb gauge that showed you how much remained in the tank.  Not only couldn’t you talk to your friends by hitting the button on your steering wheel, unless they were seated in the car, you couldn’t talk to them at all, since less than one percent of drivers in the US had a mobile phone back then.  While it sounds archaic, driving in the good old days was a lot less complicated and as a result, much simpler to master.

Is there such a thing as too much car tech?

Image courtesy of flickr

When it comes to keeping up with the Joneses, automakers are way ahead of the curve.  Back in the seventies and eighties, the only kind of technology in passenger vehicles was a radio and tape deck.  While cars of the era still sported ashtrays equipped with electric lighters, there was very little else in the vehicle to distract drivers, unless you counted a pair of foam dice dangling from the rearview mirror.  That was the good news. The bad news was while all cars made in the US were required to have seatbelts since 1968, airbags weren’t made mandatory until September 1, 1998, even though the patent for the first automotive airbag systems date from the 50’s and 60’s.

Today, every vehicle made in the US bristles with airbags.  They also abound with lots of other technology that vies for your attention while you drive.

1.      Do you compute while you commute? – While I’ve written about the dangers of texting while driving, this isn’t the only techno-dangers present in modern vehicles.  While most new cars come equipped with video displays, nearly all of them are installed in the middle of the dash.  This means if you want to read what’s onscreen (not to mention use the touchscreen to input data), you need to take your eyes off the road. 

Image courtesy USAF

2.      Hold the phone – While using a hands-free device is safer than scrounging around for your cellphone while you drive, it’s still not considered safe to phone & drive.  Even though the NTSB has been calling for a ban on talking and texting while driving for years, there are still no states with the exception of North Carolina that fines drivers who text and drive.  However, that doesn’t mean the police won’t use the fact that you were talking or texting while driving to prosecute you in the event you get involved in an accident.  Prosecutors and lawyers have also been known to use this evidence in criminal and civil proceedings.

Image courtesy of flickr

3.      Infotainment overload – Not only do today’s cars come equipped with a stereo system, sophisticated infotainment systems can be connected to everything from USB data ports to satellite ratio systems, both of which typically display long lists of tunes from which to choose.  Even if your vehicle has steering wheel-mounted controls that allow you to channel hop and adjust the volume, most people do so while staring at the dashboard mounted display screen.  Is it any wonder why last year alone, more than 3,000 deaths in the US were blamed on distracted driving?

4.      It’s not just luxury cars that are overloaded with technology – In a November 16,2017 report by CBS News, News Correspondent Dan Dahler reported:

“A just-released study looks at how new in-car technology is taking our eyes off the road.  Acura, Cadillac, Lexus Mercedes Benz, Tesla and Volvo are all rated as having the most distracting systems.  Eight other car manufacturers, including Ford, GM, and Fiat-Chrysler are rated as having the least.  Consumer Reports noted that replacing knobs and buttons with digital screens can make things more confusing and distracting for drivers.” 

Another report by Florida attorneys Goldman & Daszkal states: “While     manufacturers claim that infotainment systems were designed to require very short amounts of focus time, most drivers need to take their eyes off the road for longer periods of time to actively use today’s systems.   The most driver-distracting activity was using the navigation system, which took an average of 40-seconds.” 

5.      In 2017 AAA’s Center for Driving Safety and Technology conducted tests of 30 vehicles, only to discover that more than two thirds of them came equipped with dashboard devices that placed a high demand on drivers to operate.  Even in the case of voice-activated devices, it was found that automakers hadn’t eliminated the visual and cognitive distractions posed by dashboard-mounted systems.

Unless you choose to drive a classic car made before the turn of the century, you will need to deal with the dangers of the modern dashboard.  It’s not the intention of this writer to alarm the motoring public, only to advise them to arrive alive by being aware of the distractions inherent in modern vehicles.  Until cars truly become sophisticated enough to get from Point A to Point B without the aid of the driver, on board technology is only likely to increase.

Catherine Powell is the owner of A Plus All Florida, Insurance in Orange Park, Florida.  To find out more about saving money on your auto insurance, check out her website at http://autoinsuranceorangeparkfl.com/