OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — According to a new survey, people with cars that have features meant to keep them safe, such as lane assist, are more likely to engage in distracted-driving behaviors.
State Farm's data showed the difference between drivers when it came to lane assist and adaptive cruise control technology. Adaptive cruise control automatically adjusts a car's speed based on traffic ahead to avoid collisions while lane assist helps keep vehicles in the correct lane.
Their data shows how many respondents say they use their phones with and without the two features:
| Adaptive Cruise Control | Lane Keeping Assist | |||
| With | Without | With | Without | |
| Reading or sending text messages | 62% | 49% | 62% | 51% |
| Interacting with cell phone apps | 56% | 42% | 54% | 44% |
| Manually entering a phone number | 52% | 38% | 56% | 38% |
| Holding phone while talking | 60% | 50% | 63% | 51% |
| Using video chat on a cell phone | 39% | 19% | 42% | 20% |
State Farm also provided some tips to help people "be as smart as your smart car while you drive:"
DO NOT
- Read or send text messages or emails.
- Talk on the phone unless its connected to the car audio
- Take selfies or film videos
- Enter destinations into GPS while the car is moving
PLEASE DO:
- Pull over and park in a safe location if it is necessary to use your phone.
- Set your phone to send an automatic reply while you are driving.
- Ask your passenger to make a call or text for you.
- Nothing that takes your attention away from your number one task -- driving safe.
You can find their full release here: https://newsroom.statefarm.com/distracted-driving-advanced-tech?cmpid=PArel071519ddadas
