IAM RoadSmart study reveals most dangerous distractions for drivers

Sat navs, texting and chatty passengers named as most dangerous distractions while driving following IAM RoadSmart study.

An experiment conducted by Carbuyer’s sister title Auto Express and road safety charity IAM RoadSmart has found that programming your sat nav is the most dangerous distraction behind the week, following a study which included Auto Express consumer editor Joe Finnerty and British Formula 3 racing driver Jamie Chadwick tested in a state-of-the-art driving simulator to see how the most common distractions affected their concentration.

Both participants had to complete tined laps and brake at specific points with and without a series of distractions.

Using the sat nav or similar device caused significant speed reduction in the timed laps and racing driver Jamie missed her braking point entirely.

IAM RoadSmart’s Tim Shallcross, who was monitoring the tests, said: “The moral? Those warning screens about not entering details on the move are there for a reason – don’t ignore them.”

The second most danger activity was sending a text message, with other distractions including eating, drinking and talking to a passenger.

He added: “Using a mobile phone while driving would be “a menace to other road users, [as] the car was more or less out of control.”

In the braking test, talking to another driver was shown to hinder the reaction, showing that any distraction reduces the drivers attention to the road, and in the event of an emergency, shows it could be the different between injury or death and avoiding a road incident entirely.

Steve Fowler, Auto Express editor, said: “These results highlight just how important it is that drivers give their full attention to the road ahead.

“We’ve seen the staggering numbers of people who are still using phones at the wheel, and these tests show how dangerous they can be – whether it’s texting, calling or programming the sat nav.

“More work needs to be done to target those who still think it’s acceptable to use a phone while driving,” he added.

If you would like to read more articles like this then please click here

The post IAM RoadSmart study reveals most dangerous distractions for drivers appeared first on UK Construction Online.