We all know that using your phone while driving, regardless of whether you’re using it with or without a hands-free kit, can be rather distracting, however could the same be said for a smartwatch? After all it is smaller and is already on your wrist so you can always look at it quickly as opposed to having to take your phone out and look at it.
However it turns out that maybe using a smartwatch might actually be more distracting than your smartphone. According to a recent study conducted by the Transport Research Laboratory in the UK, it has been found that a smartwatch is a significantly greater distraction compared to smartphone, so much so that safety advocate firm SmartWitness is calling for a ban on the devices.
The study found that drivers wearing a smartwatch took 2.52 seconds to react to an emergency maneuver. This is compared to using a smartphone which had a reaction time of 1.85 seconds and talking to a passenger which was around 0.9 seconds. Now it is possible that due to smartwatches being relatively new technology that maybe users might not be too familiar with its functions which could lead to slower reaction times.
That being said we still have to agree that using our gadgets while driving is a big no-no because even if more time was shaved off the reaction time, it could still prove to be potentially dangerous and fatal in certain situations.
Filed in . Read more about Apple Watch, Smartwatch and Wearable Tech.