As we know, distracted driving is a real epidemic in our country. The convenience and affordability of today’s cellphones has put them in the hands of millions of Americans, many of whom have a hard time looking away from them — even when they behind the wheel of a vehicle moving at 60 mph. Injuries that are suffered as a result of motor vehicle accidents caused by distracted drivers are especially tragic, because they are often injuries that could have been prevented.
In response to these sorts of accidents, there have been many ideas put forth about how to curb distracted driving. Public service ads can often be seen on television, urging drivers to put down their phones; many states and municipalities have criminalized using a hand-held phone while driving.
Predictably, such laws have proven difficult to enforce; the threat of punishment doesn’t dispel many drivers from the notion that they can continue to use their phones while they drive.
That’s why some researchers have decided on taking a completely different tack. Rather than trying to keep people from using their phones while driving, they have focused instead on trying to minimize the distraction — realizing that the all-or-nothing approach has been mostly fruitless.
One design firm has been working with a typeface that is easier to read at a glance. By using this typeface in electronic devices such as cellphones, researchers think they can help to refocus drivers on the task at hand: driving. It is a small step, but any step forward in getting drivers to become less distracted is a welcome one.
Source: The Washington Post, “A remarkably small idea that could reduce distracted driving,” Emily Badger, April 7, 2014