Driving While Downloading Studied

DETROIT--Ford Motor Co. is opening a $10 million simulation laboratory designed to analyze the potential dangers of driving while dealing with cellular phones, electronic handheld devices and dashboard computers--along with all the other electronic gear now becoming common in car cockpits.

Known as the Virtual Test Track Experiment, or Virttex, the facility’s simulator will track drivers’ eye movements as they use these onboard items while trying to steer around curves and make other maneuvers.

Testing is expected to begin early this year.

“The goal is to discover better ways to measure the distraction potential of human/vehicle interfaces of the future,” said Ford. “The results of this study and others like it will be released to the public in hopes of achieving a scientific basis for in-vehicle electronic human-machine interface standards upon which everyone can agree.”

Already some communities are banning en route cell phone conversations, citing collision-prone driver distractions. The problem is expected to get worse as additional in-car electronic gadgetry is brought to the marketplace.

More than 10 percent of all fatal crashes in 1999 were caused by driver distractions, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Motor vehicle operators were attempting such tasks as lighting cigarettes and eating hamburgers, applying makeup and trying to jot down notes. NHTSA;s numbers reveal a shocking increase in the number of electronics-related distractions as more and more consumers are using handhelds and other electronic devices while behind the wheel.