Since it is illegal to talk on the cell phone without a headset, car companies are now developing features that appeal to those who need to feel constantly connected. Ford cars now have an “in car-connectivity” feature called Ford Sync, which allows the driver to sync up to apps, and play songs on your iPod. It can even read Twitter feeds and your text messages. Ford Sync is voiced activated, which means you can tell Ford Sync to respond to your text messages from a list of 10 prewritten responses. You can even order Ford Sync to find a restaurant that you are craving.
These features sound ideal to the average person, but surely these features will distract the driver. Yes, the driver is prevented from looking down at his or her phone to reply to a text message, but being this connected to technology must be a distraction to the driver. This distraction makes the driver unable to fully concentrate on the road because they are thinking about which text message response they should choose to send or listening to Twitter feeds. I think that these features are putting drivers in danger of getting into accidents.
4 comments:
This is actually quite scary. The roads are dangerous enough without these cars laden with distractions. It is as if these cars encourage irresponsible driving. A girl in my English class described how she got into three serious car accidents while texting. One of those accidents totaled another person's car and nearly cost a life. I would hate to think how many lives the Ford Sync could claim.
I definitely can attest to how distracting it is to drive while using any sort of communication-related technology. When using my hands-free device with my phone, there is a noticeable difference in my ability to scan my surroundings effectively. I have a more difficult time focusing on the road, and I’ve definitely gone through a red light before. I drove up, stopped and looked for traffic, and drove off like it was a stop sign. There were no other cars around, so nothing bad happened, but it certainly flustered me.
When driving the bus, talking on the radio creates a major distraction too. The attention I should be paying to scanning intersections and checking my mirrors is directed towards the conversation at hand. I’ve missed turns on bus routes this way.
Although I haven’t had any major consequences of being constantly connected while behind the wheel, I’ve noticed a difference in my ability to perform fully while driving in this distracted state. This “Ford Sync” idea concerns me because you can’t help but be distracted when using that sort of technology while driving.
I agree with Eleanor and Nick. This sounds like a great marketing strategy, but in practice, I think this would be very dangerous. I don't think that most people are so addicted to technology that they even want to check their Facebook on the road, but for those who can't stay away from it, I guess they will want this car. If they are the kind of driver who would check Twitter on the road anyway, this might be a safer option. It makes me a little worried for my own safety, and sad that we have become this obsessed with technology. I'll be interested to see if this actually sells well.
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