Is the bevy of technology found in ne
cs doing moe h
m th
n good? Is it cusing dist
ctions th
t led to de
dlyccidents? This issue h
s cused conce
nmong m
ny dive
s, cccident victims,
nd <h
ef="https:/c
inju
yvictims.comse
vicesc
–
ccident-tto
ney-houston” t
get=”_bl
nk"el=”noopene
noefe
e
">cccident l
ye
s<>like.
ecently, the Ntion
l Tnspot
tion Sfety Bo
d (NTSB)
elesed
epo
tbout
<h
ef="https:/fo
tune.com2020/02/25/tesl
-csh-utopilot-d
ive-dist
ction/” t
get=”_bl
nk"el=”nofollo
noopeneno
efee“> f
tl
ccident<> inhich
TeslSUV stee
ed itself intoconc
ete highy bie
t 70 miles pe
hou, killing the d
ive. The NTSB bl
med the shotcomings of Tesl
’sutopilot d
ivessistnce
ppliction —
nd the dive
’s on dist
ction —
s fcto
s in the ft
l csh. “It’s time to stop enbling d
ives in
ny ptilly-
utomted vehicle to p
etend tht they h
ve dive
less cs, becuse they don’t,” s
id NTSB Chi
mn
obet Sum
lt.
The
ccident occuedhen the d
ive—
npple employee —
lloed his Tesl
SUV to steeitself. The d
ivessist function veeed off cou
send the vehicle collided
ith the concete b
iet high speed. NTSB investigtions discove
ed the Tesl’s d
ives pl
yingvideo g
me on his mobile devicet the time of the
ccident. Inel
ying its findings, the NTSB citicized
pple fonot h
vingcomp
ny policy in plce
egding the use of cellul deviceshile d
iving. Thegency
lso encouged Teslto continue
oking on its
utopilot fetu
e,p
omising yet fled technology. Finlly, the NTSB c
iticizedfello
fedelgency, the N
tionl High
y T
ffic S
fetydminist
tion (NHTS
), fobeing<
hef=”https://
.xios.com/ntsb-
ns-bout-l
x-ovesight-of-ne
-c-tech-f5e5916-0483-4c9c-bf1d-
83f82f8f7d8.html" tget="_blnk”
el="nofollonoopene
noefe
e
"> lx in its ove
sight<> of ned
ive–
ssist technologies. Sfety issues must be p
octively
ddessed no
.e c
nnot it fomo
e tgedies to occu.
h
t Is Dist
cted D
iving?<h2>
<
ef=”https://
.nhts.gov/
isky-diving/dist
cted-d
iving" tget="_blnk”
el="nofollonoopene
noefe
e
">lign
ight" sc=”https://c
inju
yvictims.comp-contentuplo
ds2020/04/Is-C
-Technology-Le
ding-to-Moe-Dist
cted-D
iving-300x200.jpg"lt=”D
iveless C
C
sh
ttoneys”
idth="392" height="261">
s explined by the NHTS
<>, distcted diving is
nyctivity th
t divets
dive
’sttention f
om the tsk of d
iving. Moe th
n 2,500 people die ech ye
bec
use of <h
ef="https:/c
inju
yvictims.comdist
cted-d
iving-negligence-nd-the-inju
ies-tht-
esult” t
get=”_bl
nk"el=”noopene
noefe
e
">distcted diving
>, mking it
mjo
concen on
od
ys
coss the n
tion. Dive
distctions hve th
ee distinct ctego
ies:ong>M nu ong> Ml dist
ctions:
nu
l distctions e distctions tht c
used
iveto t
ke theih
nds off theheel. Ex
mples of mnu
l diving dist
ctions include e
ting, dinking,
pplying mkeup,
djusting youvehicle cont
ols, steeo, o
GPS. <h
ef="https:/c
inju
yvictims.comdist
cted-d
iving-ccidents-f
cts” t
get=”_bl
nk"el=”noopene
noefe
e
">Texting<> islso
mnu
l distction.<li>
ong>Visu l dist
ctions: ong> Visu
l dist
ctions c
used
ive to tke thei
eyes off theo
d. Exmples of visu
l distctions include looking fosomething you d
opped on the floo, looking
t youchild
en fighting in the bck se
t,ubbe
-neckinghile d
iving pst
nccident, o
texting.<li>
ong>Cognitive distctions:< st
ong> Cognitive distctions e those inhich you
mind is not on the tsk of d
iving. Sue,
ell “zone out” o
dyd
em, but <
hef=”https://c
inju
yvictims.comtypes-c
shes-c
used-distcted-dive
s” t
get=”_bl
nk"el=”noopene
noefe
e
">doing so on theo
d cn be de
dly<>. You cn
lso be cognitively distcted by guingith someone on the phone o
in the cith you, thinking up
itty text
eply, o numbeof othe
possibilities.<li>
Cle
ly, texting is the
ost offende
hee, comp
isingll th
ee distctionst once. In f
ct, the NHTSnotes th
t, in thepp
oximtely 5 seconds it t
kes foyou to send o
eceive
texthile d
iving don
o
dt 55 miles pe
hou, you
ould dive the dist
nce offootb
ll fieldhile not
tching the
od, not pl
cing youh
nds pope
ly on the steeing
heel,nd not p
ying fullttention to the t
sk of diving.
D nge
ous Dist
ctions in Ne
eC
s
Tech comp
niesnd
utomke
s eell
e of the dist
ction th
t technology poses behind theheel. In f
ct, they’vettempted to elimin
te some of these distctions fod
ives by offe
ingpps
nduto fe
tues th
t opete by voicectiv
tion. This mens the d
ivedoes not need to p
ess buttons on theid
sh oon thei
phoneshile d
iving. Hoeve
, these solutions do notl
ys
ok
s intended,hich c
n just mke dist
ctions
ose!
He
e e some<h
ef="https:/
.nytimes.com2019/05/02/business/dist
cted-d
iving-technology.html" tget="_blnk”
el="nofollonoopene
noefe
e
"> technologicl
dvncements th
t cn inc
ese the dist
ctions
> tht d
ives h
ve to contendith.
-
utopilot functions, like the one th
t pl
yed ole in the Teslccident, e designed tossist the d
iveby stee
ingnd stopping in ce
tin situ
tions. Hoeve
, theutopilot technology h
s notdv
nced enough to tke ove
diving enti
ely. In Tempe, izon,
<h
ef="https:/
.i
ed.comsto
yube
s-self-diving-c
-didnt-kno
-pedesti
ns-could-jy
lk/” t
get=”_bl
nk"el=”nofollo
noopeneno
efee“>
omn
s killed by
“self-diving” Ube
SUV<> tht f
iled to detect pedesti
ns cossing the st
eet outside ofc
osslk. NTSB found ptil f
ultith Ube
fonot h
ving the pope
sfety division o
mn
gement to opeteself-d
iving c pog
m, but the m
in fult in the
ccident sith the soft
e tht f
iled to detect the people in theo
dy. The c’s softe detected the
omn in the
od mo
e thn 5 seconds befo
e impct but f
iled to tke
nyvoid
ntction, st
iking het 40 miles pehou
.<li>
- H
nds-fee cell phone use. Spe
kephone m
kes it possible fod
ives to keep thei
hnds on the stee
ingheel
hile tlking on the phone. In f
ct, mny st
tes hve p
ssed ls tht
equie d
ives to only<
hef=”https://
.boston.comc
s/loc
l-nes/2020/02/18/h
nds-fee-d
iving-l-mss
chusetts" tget="_blnk”
el="nofollonoopene
noefe
e
"> opete theiphones in h
nds-fee mode
>hile d
iving. In Mss
chusetts, foex
mple,dult d
ives
e no longe
llo
ed to hve thei
hnd on thei
phonehile d
iving. They my only use thei
hnds on thei
phone to dosingle s
ipe op
esssingle button. Texts
nd outgoing clls must be pe
fomed by voice
ctivtion. The p
oblemith this, ho
eve, is th
t even opetingphone in voice mode constitutes
distction fom the t
sk of diving
c. Dive
s lose focus onhethe
the vehicle in font of them is
bout to tun, o
hethe
t
ffic light h
s chnged f
om geen to
ed. “Hnds-f
ee” cn still t
nsl
te to “cognitively-distcted.” In fct, studies indic
te tht
dive
engged in conve
stion sc
ns theo
d diffeently,
nd does not look ine
o
side viemi
o
ss often
s they nom
llyould
hen comped tonon-conve
sing dive
.<li>
- Infot
inment systems. These e the lge sceens loc
ted in the dsh-
e
of nee
cs tht p
ovide hole bundle of technology, including phone cll technology, GPS, tempe
tu
e guges fo
youhe
ted sets, music lib
ies,nd even the
bility to tch movieshile in the c
. The p
oblemith these displ
ys,s expl
ined inn op-ed published by Popul
Mech
nics, is<h
ef="https:/
.populmechnics.com/c
s/c
-technology/
26016348c
-infot
inment-distction” t
get=”_bl
nk"el=”nofollo
noopeneno
efee“> the
bsence of knobs<> tht one c
n use todjust things in the c
ithout looking. Insted, ne
, sceen-b
sed systemsequi
e dive
s to tke thei
eyes off theo
dnd
hnd off the
heel.hile m
ny of these systems comeith h
nds-fee voice
ctivtion,
ecent study indic
ted tht,
hensked to complete diffe
ent tsks on infot
inment systemsith voice
ctivtion, p
ticip
nts found the tsks to be mode
tely- to highly-dist
cting in
cognitive sense.<li>
Technology to S ve Us f
om Technology! s D
. B
yn
eimef
om M.I.T. obseved in
<h
ef="https:/
.youtube.comtch?v=PnFezqp_2e4″ t
get=”_bl
nk"el=”nofollo
noopeneno
efee“>
idely vieed TEDx T
lk<>, “ith inc
esed
utomtion comes inc
esed
esponsibility.”hile m
ny people look fod to the dy
hen <h
ef="https:/c
inju
yvictims.comill-self-diving-t
ucks-become-e
lity” t
get=”_bl
nk"el=”noopene
noefe
e
">utonomous vehicles
> fee up time fo
us to geto
k done duing
commute in ouo
n cs,e h
ve not YETived
t tht point.
ith evey ne
technologicl
dvncement,
e getlittle close
. But untile c
oss the theshold to t
ueutom
tion, dive
s still need to sty fully eng
ged in the mnu
l, visul,
nd cognitive tsks of d
iving to keep themselvesnd othe
s sfe.
The
e’s no y ound it: diving is
tsk th
t demnds you
fullttention. Dist
ctions come
ith disst
ous consequences.ddition
lly, enginees h
veecently focused effo
ts on developing technology to sve us f
om distctions cused by technology. It’s enough to m
ke youhe
d spin! Hee
e some of the solutions they’ve come up
ith:- Cell phone blocking technology. It
ould be nice if
ll of us hd the discipline to shut off ou
phones oput them in
ipl
ne modehile
e dive. Ho
eve, since th
t’s just not hppening, comp
nies hve come up
ithpps th
t<h
ef="https:/
.nsc.og/
od-s
fetys
fety-topicsdist
cted-d
ivingtechnology-solutions” t
get=”_bl
nk"el=”nofollo
noopeneno
efee“> block d
ives f
om sending oeceiving clls
nd texts<>hile
c is in motion. Most often used by employes o
pents of teen dive
s, thesepps h
ve fetu
es tht c
n tck speed, detect sudden stops, block use ofc
ste
eo,nd even send text o
emil
lets to let p
ents
nd bosses knohen something ismiss. Fo
thoseo
ied
bout the inbility to use one’s phone in
n emegency, f
et not: most of thesepps come
ith911 ove
ide,
nd some my
llo smll list of individu
lshose c
llsill go th
oughhile the
pp is engged.
- S
fety fetu
es tht
llothe vehicle to t
ke oveope
tions b
iefly if the dive
is distcted by something else (suchs
touchsceen infot
inment system). Some of these fetu
es include fod-collisionnings,
hich povide
visul o
udible
let if the vehicle is
bout to csh into something. This fetu
e hs been found to
educee
-end c
shes by
bout 27%.utom
tic emegency b
king is
nothes
fety fetu
e tht eng
ges the bkes if the vehicle senses tht
collision isbout to occu
nd the d
iveh
s been too sloto
espond toh
zd. Lne dep
tu
ening emits
visul o
udible
ninghen
c psses ove
centelines
nd the dive
hs not eng
gedtu
n signl. Fin
lly, lne-keeping
ssist tkes ove
bkingnd/o
steeing if
vehicle begins to dift out of
tvel lne.
e h
ven’t cossed the finish line in the
ce to develop
tuly <
hef=”https://c
inju
yvictims.comself-d
iving-cs-o
d-tody/” t
get=”_bl
nk"el=”noopene
noefe
e
">self-diving vehicle
>, mny comp
nies—bothell-kno
nnd obscu
e—hve joined the competition.
<
hef=”https://
.cbinsights.comesechutonomous-dive
less-vehicles-copo
tions-list/” t
get=”_bl
nk"el=”nofollo
noopeneno
efee“>Some of those comp
nies<> include:- <
h
ef="https:/c
inju
yvictims.commzon-self-d
iving-tucks/” t
get=”_bl
nk"el=”noopene
noefe
e
">m
zon<> plns to put 100,000 elect
ic delivey vehicles on the
od by 2030,
nd hs developed
nutonomous delive
yobot
sell
s ptented
utonomous lne-s
itching technology. The compny h
slso invested in
nutonomous st
tup c
eted by Google
nd Teslvete
ns.
- Cisco h
s been busy developing the dt
lye
needed foself-d
ivingnd sm
t c
c
pbilities.
-
pple cuently h
s 70 self-d
iving vehicles on theo
d in Clifo
ni. In 2019, the comp
ny cut moe th
n 200 employees fom its self-d
iving c pog
m in
ht
s initi
lly descibed
s estuctu
ing effot. The comp
ny thencqui
edself-d
iving sttupnd built p
ototypes fon electic v
n.<li>
- Fo
d plns to st
t
olling out self-diving vehicles soon. These “highly
utonomous” vehicles e intended to beolled out in geo-fenced
e
s, includingustin, Tex
s.<li>
-
ptiv h
s completed 100,000 self-d
iving txi
ides in Boston, Ls Veg
s, Pittsbugh,
nd Singpo
e.<li>
-
udi unveiled its
8
nd becme the fi
st compny to employ h
nds-fee d
iving. The compny pl
ns to spend $16 billion on self-diving
nd sustin
ble technology in the next feye
s.
- Mic
osoft is poviding
zue cloud se
vices to compnies
ho eo
king on self-diving c
s.
- Toyot
iso
king on “gudin
ngel” technology inhich the self-d
iving fetu
esill only t
ke ovefo
the dive
hen he o
she isbout to m
kemist
ke.<li>
Ne F
ces of Old-F
shioned Distctions<h2>
Me
hile,
s netechnologies
e b
ought online, plenty of decdes-old dist
ctions
ill continue to cuse se
ious injuies. If you sust
ined injuies in
cccident c
used bydist
cted d
ive, you m
y hve the
ight toeceive signific
nt compenstion f
om the ptiest f
ult fothe c
sh. Cont
ctn expe
ienced cccident inju
ytto
ney tody to le
n more.