Hands Free Risks

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I remember not too long ago when you couldnt
make a call while driving without it being
hands-free.
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Every time a driver would ever pick up their cell
phone to make or receive a call they were putting
themselves, their passengers, other drivers, and
even pedestrians at risk.
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Even with the improvements in technology,
especially when concerning cell phones and
vehicle compatibility some risk has been reduced
with the hands-free implications that are being
made in newer model vehicles.
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This does not however mean that all risk
associated with talking on a cell phone while
driving has been eliminated though.
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Lets discuss some of the risks that every driver
faces when they take or make a call while driving
even when they are using hands-free technology.
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One of the risks that has been found to be true
by a study at the University of Utah, which was
funded by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety
the education arm of AAA is that when using
speech-enabled technologies drivers were actually
more distracted while driving in the simulation
or a research vehicle than when they were driving
while just talking on a phone.
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This being said the simple clicking of a button
on your steering wheel to answer an inbound call
is distracting, but can be safer than just
picking up your cell phone.
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Another risk that is sweeping the nation for
drivers is the speech-to-text enabled
capabilities of newer vehicles.
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It has been discovered that this feature may
actually overload the driver thus making their
driving more dangerous for themselves and others.
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It has been discovered by Dr.Strayer of the
University of Utah that actually talking on the
phone whether it is using a hands-free device or
not can be much more dangerous than driving drunk.
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However, the level of mental distraction isnt
universal with each vehicle or phone.
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Another study has been done by AAA to compare the
level of mental distraction.
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From the study the safest vehicles to choose from
door their voice-activated systems is the Chevy
Equinox, Buick Lacrosse, and the Toyota 4Runner.
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The most dangerous vehicles or voice-activated
software was found in the Mazda 6, Microsoft
Cortana, and the Sonota by Hyundai.
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In conclusion while using a hands-free device can
be safer at times if you choose to take or make a
call compared to actually picking up your phone
and taking your eyes off the road there are still
certain risks that drivers should be aware of.
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Ultimately the only way to eliminate these risks
all together is to simply not talk or text while
driving.