Voice-to-text apps no safer than manual texting while driving: study

A new study out of the United States suggests that voice-to-text mobile apps have roughly the same distracted driving impact as manual texting and doesn’t prove to be any safer.

The study, led by researchers at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, included 43 participants driving on a closed course. All the participants were “very familiar” with sending and receiving text messages on a smartphone.

Researchers first evaluated the drivers on the course without using a cell phone, for a baseline. Then, each driver did the course three more times, using manual texting, the Siri voice-to-text app (for the iPhone) and Vlingo (for Android smartphones).

The texting tasks included a “read only” task, a “send only” task and “read and reply” task. All the drivers were required to send the same script for the texts, which included “short phrases to mimic everyday text messaging conversations,” according to the study’s abstract.

The researchers measured the time it took each driver to complete the texts, and also how long it took them to respond to a light that came on at random intervals throughout the time they were on the course.

They found that driver response times were significantly delayed, whether the driver was manually texting or using one of the apps. Response times were twice as long as the baseline test (not texting at all).

The drivers also spend less time looking at the roadway ahead when they were texting manually and using the apps, the researchers noted.

In terms of self-evaluation, most of the drivers said they felt safer when using the voice apps over when they were manually texting, even though researchers found them to be equally distracting.

“Understanding the distracted driving issue is an evolving process, and this study is but one step in that process,” Christine Yager, a TTI associate transportation researcher who managed the study noted in a statement on the findings. “We believe it’s a useful step, and we’re eager to see what other studies may find.”