Apple iWatch to significantly impair driving performance says IAM

Leading road safety charity the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) is warning drivers about the potential risks associated with smart watches while driving. The latest piece of wearable technology from Apple will allow users to make and receive calls, check messages and monitor their health by operating the device on their wrists. However, the IAM warns that this could significantly impair driving performance – a major cause for distraction and road accidents.
September 17, 2014 Read time: 2 mins

 Leading road safety charity the 6187 Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) is warning drivers about the potential risks associated with smart watches while driving.

The latest piece of wearable technology from 493 Apple will allow users to make and receive calls, check messages and monitor their health by operating the device on their wrists. However, the IAM warns that this could significantly impair driving performance – a major cause for distraction and road accidents.

Existing research conducted by the IAM simulator study on smartphone use between 2006 and 2010 found distraction from a mobile phone was a contributory factor in 1,960 road accidents which resulted in injuries; this figure includes 110 fatal accidents. Having a wristwatch linked to users’ mobile phone only suggests a higher proportion of drivers’ performance will be significantly impaired.

Constant alerts will require motorists’ regular attention. As opposed to using a legal hands-free piece of equipment the iWatch will require drivers to use two hands to operate the device – impacting speed, lane position and time spent looking at the road.

The 1837 Department for Transport has announced that using an iWatch while driving will carry the same penalty as using a hand-held mobile phone of three license penalty points and a £100 fine. As per the Crown Prosecution guidelines, however, where a motorist uses a mobile phone causing death by dangerous driving a harsher sentence of two years imprisonment is enforced.

Neil Greig, IAM director of Policy and Research said: “An iWatch has the potential to be just as distracting as any other smartphone device. Indeed more so if you have to take your hand off the wheel and your eyes off the road to interact with it.

“Enforcement will be difficult for the police, but powers exist to seize and interrogate devices in the event of a serious crash. The very device that distracted you also has the power to convict you.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Driver training saves lives, increases profits, reduces costs
    February 3, 2012
    An innovative UK Government initiative on work-related driver training has resulted in astonishing success, not only in terms of government objectives, but also in substantial cost-benefits for companies and public sector authorities participating in the scheme: they save lives and increase profits/reduce costs Here, we present an overview of the initiative and, overleaf, provide a detailed cost-benefit analysis which amply illustrates why it has been enthusiastically embraced by industry and the public sec
    Read More
  • Driver training saves lives, increases profits, reduces costs
    February 6, 2012
    An innovative UK Government initiative on work-related driver training has resulted in astonishing success, not only in terms of government objectives, but also in substantial cost-benefits for companies and public sector authorities participating in the scheme: they save lives and increase profits/reduce costs Here, we present an overview of the initiative and, overleaf, provide a detailed cost-benefit analysis which amply illustrates why it has been enthusiastically embraced by industry and the public sec
    Read More
  • Experiment discovers ‘deadliest distractions’ at the wheel
    April 28, 2017
    Road safety charity IAM RoadSmart and UK car magazine Auto Express teamed up to find out which are the deadliest behind-the-wheel distractions with programming a sat-nav found to be the worst. Auto Express consumer editor Joe Finnerty and British Formula 3 hopeful Jamie Chadwick were put to the test in a professional racing simulator at Base Performance Simulators in Banbury. They were both assessed to see how they coped with the most common distracting tasks on UK roads, while completing timed laps and bra
    Read More
  • Regulating rural road use
    June 20, 2016
    David Crawford looks at problems facing indigenous communities and those unfamiliar with driving in rural areas. While it is well known that the fatality rate for road crashes in rural areas is higher than in towns and cities, some groups suffer far more than others. For instance, the rates of death and serious injury from vehicle accidents is much higher for American Indian and Alaska Native (AI and AN) populations living in rural tribal lands than for any of the country’s other ethnic populations. Crashes
    Read More

Highlighted Content