Auto Insight: Smarter Steering Wheel Helps Drivers
A recent Harvard University study found that 2,600 highway deaths and as many as 330,000 injuries a year can be attributed to cell phone use. Some states have gone as far as outlawing the handheld cellular telephone while driving, but does it make an impact?
"We encourage drivers to pull over to side of road, but practically speaking that's not usually the case," said Claudine Goldsmith of Nokia.An estimated 30 percent of accidents are caused by driver distractions and it's not just cellular telephone use either.More and more information services are being introduced into vehicles, and that is causing concern for safety.But safety advocates within the industry recognize the problem and are searching for solutions.Innovations are being developed to help the driver with their main task and that's driving. Applied Computer Technology in West Bloomfield has developed a smarter steering wheel."If the driver is making a turn or accelerating or has an accelerating heart rate, that would be a bad time for him to get a call," said Mouhamad Naboulsi of Applied Computer Technologies.ACT's system can actually take the drivers pulse, sense danger and decide if the situation warrants an incoming call. And it's all done through the steering wheel.
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