With the recent hype over the Apple Watch, as well as the Moto 360, Galaxy Gear, and LG G Watch, it seems that the public is beginning to truly embrace the technology. One can therefore expect more wearable devices to come out in the near future. However, Cambridge News recently posted a reminder about the dangers of using smartwatches while driving.
"An iWatch has the potential to be just as distracting as any other smartphone device," the publication quotes Neil Greig as saying. Greig is the Director of Policy and Research at the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) in the U.K.. "Indeed more so if you have to take your hand off the wheel and your eyes off the road to interact with it."
While it is quite evident that mobile phones distract drivers, the IAM simulator study conducted from 2006 to 2010 reveals that the use of smartphones while behind the wheel contributed to 1,960 road accidents which caused injuries, 110 of which were fatal.
The dangers of using mobile devices while driving is echoed in other countires, including the U.S. According to the Distraction.gov website, reading or sending a text message may take only five seconds to do, but when one is driving at 55mph or 88 kilometers per hour, "that's like driving the length of an entire football field, blindfolded. It's extraordinarily dangerous."
The site also says that about 600,000 drivers in America are using their mobile devices or are tinkering with other electronic gadgets while behind the wheel, and that's at any given moment during daylight hours. Furthermore, 78 percent of young drivers say they looked at or read text messages while driving, and 71 percent admitted to having composed and sent SMS messages while on the road.
And it is not only drivers; pedestrians, too, are at risk of getting into accidents due to distracted or reckless walking. According to a study published last year by the Ohio State University, an estimate of over 1,500 pedestrians were taken to emergency rooms due to accidents caused by using their cell phones while walking.
While distracted driving also involves other activities such as tinkering with the radio, watching videos, eating and drinking, grooming, having a conversation, and others, the use of smartphones has become a great concern for road safety agencies in recent years. And the development of more and more wearables like the Apple Watch is another factor that could contribute to more driver distractions, thus increasing the risk of road accidents.
