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Are touchscreens in cars dangerous?

(www.economist.com)
238 points Brajeshwar | 1 comments | 20 Sep 25 15:57 UTC | HN request time: 0.219s | source
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dghlsakjg ◴[20 Sep 25 16:21 UTC] No.45314682[source]▶
Unequivocally, yes. They are absolutely dangerous.

Anything that takes attention away from driving increases danger.

Are they more dangerous than older interfaces? My feeling is overwhelmingly yes, but I would be willing to see a study or hear arguments that some touchscreens are an improvement. A touch interface is fine (not great) as long as it never changes. As soon as you have to search for a control or menu you are dividing your attention away from driving.

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1. giantrobot ◴[20 Sep 25 16:55 UTC] No.45315033[source]▶
Even a fixed touch UI is dangerous. You can't brace your hand easily to hit a touchscreen and your hand will bounce around while driving. Hitting the wrong button is as or more distracting than having to search for a control. Then there's the shitty UIs with small buttons that are hard to hit accurately even at a dead stop. It seems like every touch screen UI takes all the sins of modern crappy web design and turns it all to 11.

They're just terrible UX for the inside of a vehicle you're driving.