Virtual Reality Used to Gauge Driver Distractions

O A K   R I D G E, Tenn., May 3 -- Researchers are for the first time using a virtual reality simulator to test how drivers handle the distractions of new car options including navigational aids, collision warning devices, Internet connections and their ever-present cell phones.

With all this going on, the simulator records a driver's performance — speed, braking and the ability to stay in one lane. Early tests — the first to measure driver distraction — indicate these growing demands on a driver's attention clearly contribute to crashes.

"The big danger, in my opinion, is distracting the driver from the main task of controlling the vehicle and avoiding accidents," says Phil Spelt, the senior research scientist who is conducting the project at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory as part of a larger Transportation Department study.

There is, it seems, such a thing as too much information while in the driver's seat. "There certainly is the potential for that as both the vehicle manufacturers and individual car owners add more and more devices inside the car," says Spelt.

"It seemed like a good bit of things were coming at me at once," says Jenny Manneschmidt, after taking a virtual drive that ended with a virtual crash. "I was having trouble processing what I was supposed to do."

Automakers Making Things Simpler

Real-life drivers appear to have the same trouble. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says distracted driving causes one-quarter of the nation's 6.3 million annual automobile accidents. As a result, automakers are now working on ways to manage all the information a driver has to juggle.

General Motor's OnStar division even markets Virtual Advisor, its one-touch, hands-free communications system, as a safety feature. By pressing a single button and talking into the dashboard, drivers can make telephone calls, hear e-mail and get Internet access to news, stock quotes and sports scores.

The one-touch system is also available on Lexus, Acura, Audi and Volkswagen models.