A man is driving a car along suburban streets when suddenly he receives a message:
“Enter an address on the screen in front of you so that you can get help to find your way”.
Ideally, he should have been watching the road, but now the touchscreen is stealing his attention. His eyes move quickly between the screen and the traffic. The digital glasses he is wearing follow whatever he is looking at – so-called eye tracking. While the driver is entering the address on a digital map, half his time is being spent looking at the screen and his fingers.
This experiment is part of a major SINTEF project looking into traffic safety.
Navigation is causing most concern
“Don’t mess with things like this while driving!” This is the advice of Senior Research Scientist Dagfinn Moe. He and his colleague, Research Scientist Isabelle Roche-Cerasi, have been finding out exactly how much time and attention are stolen from drivers by the touch-sensitive screens on our dashboards.
“Navigation is causing us the most concern”, says Roche-Cerasi, who has also been measuring how much time we spend changing radio channels and selecting our favourite music. Apparently, we spend the least amount of time adjusting the car’s temperature.
“There’s a lot of variation among drivers”, says Roche-Cerasi. “There are differences between how often they feel they need to look at the screen in order to get what they want done, and also in how much time they spend watching what they’re actually doing”, she says.
Two hazardous seconds
In total, Roche-Cerasi has observed 44 drivers and recorded 3,000 uses of their touchscreens. In seventy-five per cent of cases, drivers have been content to look at their screens for less than half a second. Occasionally, they have focused on the screen for more than two consecutive seconds. And we know that just two seconds of distraction from the traffic doubles the chances of an accident.
“A lot has to do with a driver’s self-regulation, as well as his understanding of the traffic situation and how the screen system works”, says Moe. “It’s all about focusing on the road, combined with an understanding of how our cars behave. When should I start telling myself to stop doing this?” he asks.
“What we’ve discovered is that you will experience problems when things start to get too much for you”, maintains Moe.
But should we avoid using the screen entirely while driving? Not necessarily, according to the researchers.
“We know that touchscreen systems create problems and increase risk”, says Moe.
Roche-Cerasi maintains that there are many factors that come into play, including the traffic situation, road conditions and speed, the time we spend operating the screen, as well as the driver’s skills and self-regulation.
Screen use involved in one of every three accidents
SINTEF and Nord University have been conducting experiments under contract from road safety lobbyists Trygg Trafikk and insurers Fremtind Forsikring.
“From where we stand, it’s all about the fact that driver distraction is the cause of many accidents”, says Special Adviser Ann-Helen Hansen at Trygg Trafikk. “Surveys show that driver inattention is a contributing factor in one in every three fatal accidents”, she says.
Hansen goes on to point out that it is prohibited to use a mobile phone in a car because it distracts the driver.
“Modern cars are equipped with touchscreens, but there are no restrictions on the use of such screens while driving”, she says. It’s been important to us to find out a little more about how the touch system influences a driver’s attentiveness. There is little research or knowledge currently available in this field”, says Hansen.
Voice control recommended
Trygg Trafikk is not arguing that there ought to be a complete or partial ban on the use of touchscreens while a vehicle is in motion.
“However, the results of the project will be encouraging us to recommend voice control, and to restrict the use of screens while driving”, says Hansen. “As a driver, you have to be very aware of your surroundings, including when using a touchscreen. If you need to activate functions while driving, you should use voice control rather than touching the screen”, she says.
Recent intake driver instructor students have been used to drive the cars and operate the screens.
“But they are quite representative of most drivers”, says Dagfinn Moe. “This group has just started its training, and they are by no means specialists in the use of screen systems”, he emphasises.
The students have been driving on roads with speed limits of between 30 and 70 km/h in the centre of Stjørdal and on roads in the Trondheim area. They have used dual control cars with a double pedal system, and with qualified instructors sitting beside them, ready to intervene if hazardous situations should arise.
New regulations in the pipeline
From 2026, the vehicle safety agency Euro NCAP is issuing new regulations governing its five-star safety rating system. For a vehicle to get a five-star rating, it should be equipped such that it is not necessary to use a screen for all functions.
“It must be possible to operate some critical functions using physical buttons and handles”, says Hansen. “The presence of a physical button means that you don’t have to shift your attention from the road ahead”, she says.
