If you've
used the talk-to-text feature on your cell phone thinking it was safer while
driving, you might be surprised to hear the results of a new study from Texas A
& M University. The study, which used 43 participants, discovered that it's no safer to use
text-to-talk technology than just texting, even if drivers felt safer doing so.
In short, there were 3 interesting results from the study:
- Drivers took two times longer to react to driving situations when they were using talk-to-text than when they weren't texting at all. They also had decreased eye contact with the road.
- The speech-to-text method took the drivers in the study longer to use than simply texting a message.
- Drivers reported that while it took them longer to use speech-to-text technology, they felt safer using it than texting; researchers said this could cause drivers to make texting attempts (using the speech mode) even when it's not a safe time to do so.
At Moss Bros. Toyota serving San Bernardino, we want you to be safe when driving. The results of this study show that it's probably better to put off texting (of any kind) while driving.