Hands-free devices pose greater risk to drivers than cellphones, AAA warns

Using voice commands to send text messages and e-mails from behind the wheel is more distracting and dangerous than simply talking on a cellphone, a study by the Automobile Association of America found.

Carmakers have been trying to excite buyers with dashboard infotainment systems that let drivers use voice commands do things like turning on windshield wipers, posting Facebook messages or ordering pizza.

The pitch has been that hands-free devices are safer because they enable drivers to keep their hands on the wheel and their eyes on the road. But talking on a hands-free phone is not significantly safer for drivers than talking on a hand-held phone, and using devices that translate speech into text is most distracting of all, researchers found.

Speech-to-text systems that enable drivers to send, scroll through, or delete e-mail and text messages also required greater concentration by drivers than other potentially distracting activities examined in the study like talking to a passenger, or listening to an audio book or the radio.

The greater the concentration required for a task, the more likely a driver will stop scanning the road or ignore their mirrors. Instead, they look straight ahead but fail to see what is in front, like red lights and pedestrians.

"People aren't seeing what they need to see to drive. That's the scariest part to me," said Peter Kissinger, president and chief executive of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. "Police accident investigative reports are filled with comments like the 'looked, but did not see.' That's what drivers tell them. We used to think they were lying, but now we know that's actually true."