Technology+in+Vehicles

2. Research Accident Statistics

-According to the National Safety Council, 28% of accidents in 2009 involved cell phone activity -1.4 million are blamed on cell phone conversations while 200,000 are from texting http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/12/AR2010011202218.html

http://texting-while-driving.org/ - 16% of fatal crashes in 2008 due to "driver distractions" Distractions: Answering phone calls mulit tasking (putting on makeup, eating) Texting Loud Music Negative Emotional states (stress and anger can lead to lack of focus while driving) May 20th is deadliest day for teens on the road, due to prom and graduation season leading to distracted driving

http://www.motherlylaw.com/motherly-law/2010/05/driving-to-distraction-part-ii-why-using-your-cell-phone-while-driving-is-as-dangerous-as-driving-drunk.html - Studies performed on this topic also indicate that drivers using cell phones are four times as likely to cause an accident as other drivers, and the likelihood that they will crash is equal to that of someone with a .08 percent blood alcohol level, the point at which drivers are generally considered intoxicated. - A 2003 Harvard study estimated that cell phone distractions caused 2,600 traffic deaths every year, and 330,000 accidents that result in moderate or severe injuries. - M any states are beginning to include a category for cell phone/electronic equipment distraction on police accident report forms,

3. Research handsfree technology - a recent Australian study revealed that drivers find adjusting their stereo more distracting than using their hands-free mobile phone to make a call. http://www.the-claim-solicitors.co.uk/car-accident/car-accident-driver-distraction.htm

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2008-03-09-drivers-listening-cellphone_N.htm - Neuroscientist Marcel Just, director of the Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, agrees. Just studied 29 volunteers who used a driving simulator while inside an MRI brain scanner. The volunteers steered a car along a virtual winding road undisturbed or while deciding whether a sentence they heard was true or false. -Listening while driving led to a "significant deterioration in driving accuracy," -In the listening situation, MRI brain scans found a 37% decrease in parietal lobe activity. The parietal lobe is associated with spatial processing, so it is critical for navigation. Activity also decreased in the occipital lobe, which processes visual information.