Team-BHP - Fiddling with car music system while driving is as bad as talking on the phone

Fiddling with car music system while driving as bad as talking on the phone: Study

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Fiddling with the music player in your car while driving is as bad as speaking on the phone, because it can hamper your reaction time, finds a study by a two-member team from the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B).

The study assumes significance, said researchers, as operating a music player while driving is not “perceived as risky” unlike a mobile phone conversation.

The two-member team found that distraction caused by a music player and phone conversation reduced the driver’s probability to cross the signal intersection at the onset of the yellow signal.

A yellow signal is a warning sign for the driver to slow down and stop before the traffic light turns red.

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“In transportation studies, the duration of the signal changing from green to yellow is considered to be a critical safety situation because a wrong decision during this period can lead to accidents at signal intersections and that can be fatal,” said Pushpa Choudhary, co-author, Transportation Systems Engineering, department of civil engineering, IIT-Bombay.

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I must admit that once when I merely changed channels on the Radio of my car's ICE, the very next moment I saw my car inches away from the guardrails of an elevated road that I was just ascending soon after the toll booth. I can't imagine this on a single carriageway.

In simple words, fiddling with the ICE is definitely a distraction and the driver can lose focus and it can certainly affect reaction time.

Not just that. A sneeze is good enough for a rear ending at highway speeds or B2B traffic as that split second immensely matters too. Hence, I always take my foot off the accelerator, create more gap ahead between the vehicle and mine, and then sneeze. Funny but true and this greatly helps one avoid those nasty incidents/accidents due to delayed reflexes.

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Originally Posted by paragsachania (Post 4613006)

In simple words, fiddling with the ICE is definitely a distraction and the driver can lose focus and it can certainly affect reaction time.

I think the features like Android auto and iOS Car play are some of the nuisances in the Morden cars. Why does one need those Phone application on ICE screens? The latest trend of watching youtube VDOs or streaming live sports on ICE screens(while driving) is one of the most dangerous practices.

True that.

Have an admission to make too - Just last weekend, was going out with my spouse and I was driving her car (Nano XT). Not so accustomed with the interior spaces/dynamics as my own car, I kept my mobilephone tucked in the nook between front quarter-glass and the dash. While negotiating a sharp turn, the phone fell down & since it was a bylane didn't think much - just bent down to pick it up. Was surprised to see a 2wheeler out of nowhere in front of me and the guy reprimanding me for not noticing his vehicle :Shockked:

Learnt my lesson- irrespective of small bylanes/highways, one must expect the least expected when it comes to public roads.

Just sheepishly apologised to the guy & drove on, reaffirming that must not leave sight of the road around 360°, be it on any sort of road - including within the residential premises which one might know as well as the lines on the palm.

Was contemplating upgrading the factory-fitted ICE on my Ecosport to a touch-based-one, Sony/Blaupunkt shortlisted. Now on second thoughts I'm seeing less merit in doing so; just for the bling & added distraction should I replace !? As most of the features are already available in the current one, I'm planning to keep status-quo & ditch the touch.