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(EMAILWIRE.COM, July 05, 2011 ) DETROIT, MI -- Some cars just don't understand women. It's true. Recent reports have shown that many voice-activated technologies like OnStar cannot recognize women's voices.
These technologies allow drivers to make phone calls and change the radio by speaking to the car, allowing drivers to concentrate on keeping their eyes on the road. However, many of these voice-activated products do not understand women's voices.
Carmakers are promoting voice-activated technologies as a solution for distracted driving, even though they are not reliable for everyone. These products also have trouble understanding those with strong foreign and regional accents.
However, while these technologies may help to curtail distracted driving, for many, including women, it is causing more distraction. One woman reported that because her car's voice-recognition software does not understand her, she yells at it and it causes more distraction than it is worth.
Advocates for the Governor's Highway Safety Association say drivers can become distracted by the growing number of gadgets that cause them to look away, such as cellphones, MP3 players or GPS systems. They believe that drivers' divided attention is behind an increase in fatal accidents. According to the National Highway Safety Administration, distracted driving was a factor in 16 percent of all fatal accidents in 2009.
Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, believes that being on the phone causes cognitive distractions - drivers may have their eyes on the road, but their brains may be somewhere else. This distraction could cause a car accident that may involve death or serious injury. His solution doesn't involve voice-recognition technology at all, but his solution involves encouraging drivers to put their cellphones in the glove compartment.
While voice-activated technology may lessen the likelihood of distracted driving, safety advocates such as Jonathan Adkins, spokesman for the Governors Highway Safety Association, argues that too many times, when systems do not work properly, drivers take their eyes of the road to tinker with the product itself.
Many who have been in a car accident, seek legal advice from a car accident lawyer as the accident may have been caused by a negligent driver such as one who was texting while driving, talking on their cellphone, or even messing with their car's speech-recognition product. If you were injured in an automobile accident and feel that it was the result of a distracted driver, please visit http://legalview.info/ for a free legal consultation with an experienced attorney.
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