A competition recently hosted by Nuance Communications, Inc. showed
that voice commands reduce the risk of driver distractions caused by
the use of mobile devices in cars. "The Amazing Race: Distracted Driving"
competition took place at Conversations Mobile, a premier speech event
for the mobile communications industry held in Boca Raton, Florida.
Contestants equipped with a traditional cell phone
competed against a driver using Nuance speech solutions to conduct a
number of mobile device-related tasks in a simulated driving
environment. Speed was not the critical measurement in this race, but
rather minimizing distraction and ensuring safety by allowing the
driver to keep his hands on the wheel and eyes on the road. Drivers
were tasked with finding a local business, sending a text message, and
playing a specific MP3
music selection - several of the typical distractions plaguing drivers
today. For each challenge, the speech-equipped driver quickly completed
the task without a single crash, while the competitors using
traditional cell phones crashed multiple times without ever completing
the task.
To watch the Amazing Race at youtube, visit youtube.com.
"Today,
a serious traffic-safety issue is 'DWT: Driving While Texting'," said
Steve Chambers, president, mobile and consumer services division at
Nuance. "Over a trillion messages were sent worldwide last year, and
the number of text messages
is expected to explode to two trillion in 2008. Increasingly, these
messages are being sent by drivers who put themselves and others at
risk by taking their eyes off the road and hands off the wheel to
manually enter text on their cell phone keypad. In fact, the number one
killer of American teens on the road today isn't alcohol-related
accidents; it's distracted driving with over 45 percent of teens
reading or sending messages while driving. Nuance believes the safest
option is for drivers to simply refrain from using a phone while
driving, but for those who insist on using their devices, our
competition showed that the hands-free, eyes-free option provided by
speech is the next best alternative."
Moral of the story? DON'T TEXT WHILE DRIVING! Use hands-free and voice-recognition technology for your in-car communication needs.
By Brandy Schaffels
Contributing Editor
car advice for women
