was going to post the same, but you beat me to it, darn it!
40 seconds????
You’re a darwin candidate if you look away from the road for 2 seconds!
Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!
They do not cause anything. The cause is the driver choosing to pay attention to the devices.
You need a college degree, three or four hands, an instruction manual, and lots of luck just to change the time. I know because I tried to correct the time on my sister’ new car, and had to get out the manual and do seven or eight attempts before I got it set. On my ‘07 Toyota, I press either the hour button or the minute butoon, and I’m done.
It’s getting so you can barely turn on/off the windshield wipers and/or cruise control without a degree in computer programming.
Okay, so 50 years of padded dashes, banks of air bags, extra brake lights, mandatory traction control/ABS, lap & shoulder belts, mandatory cameras, headrests that push your head out, and lane change collision avoidance features were all put in to compensate for the day that people would be diddling with their GPS/Entertainment/Communications devices instead of the road?
It always gauls me how much grief drunk drivers get when they get in an accident, and yet the smuck who runs into someone while eating his mcdonalds burger and drinking hot coffee gets no blame at all.
Do those cars come with a trunk monkey that twists the driver’s arm until they begin to play with the display?
No?
So it’s actually the dumbass driver who’s at fault for not watching the road?
Get out!
The inventor of the touch screen car radio and the CEOs who say they should be in every new car should all be hung.
And Hang the inventor the Presta Valve and the CARB compliant gas can along side of them while we are at it.
No bobble heads!
I just sold my 2000 Z71 Tahoe and bought a 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee with all the bells and whistles. I have to admit there is some truth to this.
One of these days some sharp shyster is going to make a case that these devises and their placement constitute what would be termed in legal parlance an “attractive nuisance”. A jury is going to buy it and billions will subsequently be paid out.
The thing about GPS built into the dashboard/radio console of the new cars is that it is to far away from where I driver is looking unless it is a flip up type GPS screen from the dashboard if they exist. Basically to take ones eyes off of the road to look at the GPS from where they are on the new car takes to many seconds, basically too long. It would be far safer to just buy a GPS and mount it on the windshield where the driver doesn’t have to take his eyes off the road to far just to look at it.
Actually, I find the ‘infotainment’ in my new Chevy Malibu to be quite an improvement. Press the button, say “Play Kamelot” or “Navigate to (destination)”, etc. Pushbuttons on the steering wheel for volume and track control. Very nice.
Never mind that the Bose speaker system is ... an acoustic delight.
I’ll take that over the old 3.5mm jack anyday.
This is why I buy stripped down trucks. No carpet, no cruise control, no electric windows, no navigation, etc. Just a radio and air conditioning. The less I have is the less that distracts me and the less that breaks down.
I remember reading that when radios started appearing in cars (Motorola BTW started by Bill Lear of LearJet fame. He also developed the 8 track car stereo player. Also named his daughter Crystal Shanda.) many states tried to outlaw car radios because they were a distraction.
What goes around, comes around.
The study is right on - that voice that comes from space asking me where I’d like to go today is the one that gets me......