Merely receiving a phone notification is enough to distract a driver

Beyond a small minority of drivers, most of us are terrible at driving and doing anything else at the same time. Distracted-driving legislation has banned using hand-operated cell phones in cars in many states. Consequently, automakers, Apple, and Google are all pushing voice controls as a solution for a public that seems to have no desire to stop communicating on their commutes. But even using voice control appears to be little safer than button pushing; both are dismal compared to simply paying attention to the task of piloting several thousand pounds of steel.

In a recent publication from a trio of researchers at Florida State University in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, the challenge wasn't even as significant as issuing voice commands while concentrating on another task. Instead, the researchers measured the effect of receiving cellphone notifications while trying to focus on a task. The findings indicate that merely receiving a notification from one's phone was distracting enough to make an error more likely.