Drivers, for everyone’s sake, stay focused

SINGAPORE – Before long, a photo or a video of you holding a smartphone behind the wheel will be enough to land you in hot water.

That is if a new Bill tabled in Parliament by the Ministry of Home Affairs on July 7 becomes law.

Under the proposed changes, prosecutors no longer need to prove you were texting, recording a voice message or – for the older crowd – having a phone conversation.

Simply gripping the device is an offence, and the Traffic Police will be able to use photos and videos sent in by the public.

But if your car is stationary or the phone is securely mounted, chat away.

At a time when the number of traffic fatalities is on a worrying uptrend, we need to nip distracted driving in the bud as it is surely a major cause of accidents and close shaves.

Yet, the modern cockpit offers more digital distractions than the aisles of Toys ‘R’ Us to a child. The colourful animated displays in some cars can be downright dangerous.

Do we really need real-time tyre pressure readouts, a scrolling song title ticker tape and a 10km Global Positioning System map squeezed into the digital instrument cluster?

In the 1990s, Swedish carmaker Saab introduced the Night Panel. When activated, nearly all the lights in the cabin are dimmed, leaving only the crucial portion of the speedometer illuminated. Inspired by fighter jet cockpits, it helped the driver stay focused on the road.

Sadly, Saab and its Night Panel never caught on and the carmaker went bust in 2011.

Today, carmakers are waging war against tactile buttons, replacing them with virtual ones on touchscreens. Navigating these infotainment screens may not be illegal, but it might well be, given the precision needed to poke and swipe through the menus while on the move.

In some modern cars, even adjusting the air-conditioning vents requires diving into the digital menu.

Try doing that while cruising on the expressway and the car’s driver monitoring system will inevitably beep angrily because your eyes are not on the road.

Leave it to another Swede to focus our minds on the issue.

In July, Swedish automotive magazine Vi Bilagare published test results measuring driver distraction in modern cars.

Ten current-generation cars were assembled on a closed airfield and drivers had to perform basic operations – like switching radio channels, adjusting display brightness and climate control, and resetting the trip computer – while maintaining a steady 110kmh.

Compared with an identical test conducted in 2022, the newer cars travelled an average of 58m more before the drivers could complete their tasks. This is a step down in safety.

You may be surprised to learn that the screen-centric Tesla Model Y actually outperformed cars like the Nissan Qashqai and the Toyota Corolla Cross, which have more physical switchgear.

But the Model Y’s 608m is no match for the 2005 Volvo V70, which took 306m in the original test.

While the reviewers conceded that carmakers are getting better, using larger screens that improve legibility and placing them closer to the driver’s line of sight, there is still some way to go.

The test included just one Chinese model, the BYD Seal U (that is the Sealion 6 to us). It ranked better than the Corolla Cross in terms of distance travelled, but trailed the Qashqai.

I reckon that some of the Chinese EVs sold in Singapore will fare worse if they were subjected to the same test, thanks to their convoluted user interfaces.

To be fair, their makers are improving rapidly, usually through software updates.

Also, in their defence, a long-term owner would have developed the muscle memory to operate the systems far more intuitively than a motoring journalist on a test drive.

Speaking of behaviours, why would anyone be holding a device while driving if not to use it?

Unless, of course, it is to snap a photo of the driver in the next lane doing the exact same thing.