DOT Secretary Ray LaHood Announces Proposed Distraction Guidelines for Automakers

Just the Facts:

• Under the voluntary guidelines, many of the most distracting in-car electronics features, such as Web browsing, text messaging and access to social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, would be inaccessible to drivers unless vehicles are stopped and in Park.
• The guidelines fall far short of the National Transportation Safety Board's call for a total ban on in-car electronic devices unless used in emergencies. Advocacy group Focus Driven criticized the guidelines for overlooking the impact of cognitive distractions on drivers.
• Carmakers, safety groups and the public can comment on the proposed guidelines for the next 60 days or at public hearings in Washington, Chicago and Los Angeles.

WASHINGTON — The Department of Transportation (DOT) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) today announced first-of-their-kind proposed anti-distraction guidelines to automakers in the development and operation of in-car electronic devices. And although DOT Secretary Ray LaHood has repeatedly called for drivers to just say no to the use of in-car electronics, the guidelines are far from being a ban on connected driving.

Instead, the guidelines call on automakers to create in-vehicle electronics that keep drivers visually focused on the road with at least one hand on the wheel. The guidelines also are just that — voluntary steps that automakers can choose to implement or ignore. But in announcing the guidelines, NHTSA Administrator David Strickland said that they are a way to get quick compliance from carmakers. "We think, frankly, we'll have full voluntary compliance," he said.

The proposed distraction guidelines include recommendations to:

• Reduce complexity and task length required by the device.
• Limit device operation to one hand only.
• Limit individual off-road glances required for device operation to no more than 2 seconds in duration.
• Limit unnecessary visual information in the driver's field of view.
• Limit the number of manual inputs required for device operation.

The guidelines recommend that automakers disable certain operations of vehicle electronic devices while the car is in motion — unless the devices are intended for use by passengers and can't be seen or accessed by the driver unless the vehicle is stopped and the transmission shift lever is in Park. Those operations include:

• Visual-manual text messaging
• Visual-manual Internet browsing
• Visual-manual social media browsing on such sites as Twitter and Facebook
• Visual-manual navigation system destination entry by address
• Visual-manual 10-digit phone dialing
• Displaying to the driver more than 30 characters of text unrelated to the driving task.

Later guidelines may include direction on how voice commands should operate, NHTSA said.

The public, carmakers and safety organizations will have an opportunity to discuss the proposed guidelines during a 60-day public comment period. The agency also will hold hearings in March in Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, D.C.

Just after the announcement of the guidelines, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which represents 12 major carmakers, seemed to respond favorably:

"We will be reviewing the guidelines to provide further input on their development," Alliance Vice President Gloria Bergquist said in a statement. "Keeping eyes on the road and hands on the wheel is clearly the priority. Digital technology has created a connected culture in America that has forever changed our society. Consumers expect to have access to new technology, so integrating and adapting this technology to enable safe driving is the solution."

The guidelines are far more lenient than what another government agency seeks, however. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has called on all states to ban the non-emergency use of portable electronic devices, other than those designed to support driving tasks.

LaHood said that his agency and the NTSB are in accord on the issue. "We're happy when anyone is on the bandwagon. The more the merrier," he said.

Strickland said that the guidelines are a way to cope with a modern reality: Distraction is here to stay. "We lost 3,000 people in 2010 to distraction-related crashes," he said. "The driving public is getting more and more connected," with teens and Generation Y increasingly expecting that their cars will have all the electronic gadgetry that connects them outside cars, he said.

"Distraction will be an ongoing risk," Strickland said. The guidelines are "real-world guidance to help automakers develop devices drivers want without jeopardizing safety."

The guidelines fall far short of the mark because they completely overlook the role that cognitive distraction plays in accidents, said Rob Reynolds, executive director of safety advocacy group Focus Driven. He said NHTSA apparently has joined automakers in claiming that they must give in to drivers who want electronic devices in their cars.

"Apparently, they're laying(sic) down in the street, saying 'This will happen. Let's help people do this in a way we think might be safer.' It's like coming up with a safer cigarette," Reynolds said. "That doesn't work."

Inside Line says: With the introduction of the guidelines, DOT and NHTSA have acknowledged that the technology genie is out of the bottle. But by not pushing for the total ban that LaHood seems to personally favor, the agencies risk losing the support of the grassroots anti-distraction groups. Accusations of regulator-carmaker coziness are sure to follow.