Voice-to-Text Apps Still Distract Drivers

By Paul Thomson :: 4:16 PM

Results of a recent study show that drivers who use a voice recognition application to compose their text messages are just as distracted as drivers who key in the text by hand.

The research was conducted by Texas A&M University for the Texas Transportation Institute. Their finding was that voice-to-text applications “do not increase driver safety compared to manual texting.”

Physically using your device to send a text while driving is illegal in 39 states and the District of Columbia in the United States. However, according to a recent poll administered by the Automobile Association of America, 26% of drivers have admitted to sending a text while behind the wheel.

Texas researchers believe that the driving public assumes that using an app to text is better than using the device in your hand. Many drivers in the study told researchers that they felt safer using the voice recognition apps.

Data from federal agencies shows that in 2011, nearly 3,300 people died in accidents that were caused, in part, by distracted driving.