NHTSA Offers Guidelines to Curb Driver Distraction from Mobile Devices

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has announced guidelines intended to help curb driver distraction caused by smartphones and other portable electronics.

The new recommendations follow an earlier set of guidelines about features that are hardwired into a vehicle by the manufacturer. Much of the new 96-page proposal is used to detail several studies about driver distraction, outline the risks associated with using devices while driving and describe current initiatives to curb distracted driving.

The agency notes there current are no safety standards covering the use of mobile devices while driving. NHTSA says its aim is to preserve the functionality of such devices but minimize the time drivers take their eyes off the road to use them. The agency describes its approach as a pragmatic way to mitigate the fact that many consumers will continue no matter what to use portable devices in unsafe ways while driving.

The recommendations urge that all personal electronic devices be able to link to and operate through a vehicle’s infotainment system. NHTSA says this would enable the vehicle to lock out certain capabilities, such as manual texting, displaying scrolling text or playing videos not related to driving.

The plan also calls for a special “driver mode” for portable devices that reduces available functions and provides access to them through a simple, at-a-glance user interface.

NHTSA will see comment over the next 60 days on the new proposal.