Snapchat’s new Spectacles glasses allow you to record video and then share your video through the Snapchat app. Way cool.
Spectacles offer all of us a new way to share our life experiences with the world. I fully grasp the power of Spectacles because I was an early user of Google Glass. I get the tech. It’s fun, and engaging.
But here’s the thing. If you use Spectacles while operating a vehicle, then you’re engaging in distracted driving and putting everyone’s lives at risk.
The Facts
At first glance, most consumers probably think using Spectacles while driving is no big deal. I get that initial reaction. It’s a reasonable assumption but it’s also a false one.
Distracted driving is any activity that diverts a person’s attention away from the primary task of driving. All distractions endanger driver, passenger, and bystander safety. These types of distractions include:
- Texting
- Using a cell phone or smartphone (Spectacles)
- Eating and drinking
- Talking to passengers
- Grooming
- Reading, including maps
- Using a navigation system
- Watching a video
- Adjusting a radio, CD player, or MP3 player
- Sleeping (OK, I put this on the list just to see if anyone is reading the post)
Framing shots while driving. Taking your hands off the wheel to press a button, and even thinking about what you’re going to snap next is all distracted driving. I explain why in more detail below. But first let me share these eye-opening stats with you.
Each year in the United States, 4,000 to 6,000 people are killed and another 400,000 to 600,000 people are injured because of distracted driving. To put the injury rate in to perspective, about 290,000 people are injured each year from drunk driving.
If that’s not eye-opening enough for you, do you know that every single second during daylight hours in the U.S., 660,000 people are operating vehicles with a smartphone or device in their hands?
Another fact most people are not aware of, and it applies to Spectacles, is that hand-free devices (Bluetooth, voice activated…) distract drivers for up to 27 seconds. That’s almost half a minute. Crazy isn’t it!
A study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety concluded that hands-free technologies create mental distractions even if drivers have their hands on the wheel and eyes on the road. It also found that there is no improvement to safety using hands-free devices. Click here to read and share the study.
Spectacles are not hands-free, and according to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, and dozens of other similar reports, even if they were, it’s just not safe to use this type of tech, or any other for that matter, while behind the wheel.
Question: But the videos I shoot using Spectacles are only 10 seconds. How can that be dangerous?
My answer is simple. It’s very dangerous.
The average distracted driver is distracted for about 3 seconds. Traveling at 55 mph, that’s the equivalent of driving the length of a football field blindfolded. At 10 seconds that’s more than 3 football fields.
Question: I’m keeping my eyes on the road while using Spectacles. Isn’t that safe?
It’s obviously safer than not keeping your eyes on the road (sarcasm), but no, it’s not safe. Whether you realize it or not, your mind is distracted. A distracted mind results in unsafe driving. Read the above article.
Conclusion
I don’t like to be the buzz kill behind all of us enjoying and using new tech to have fun, but do me, and everyone around you, a lifesaving favor. Please do not use Snapchat Spectacles while driving. You’ll be engaging in the act of distracted dirving and putting lives at risk.
No matter how you slice it, dice it, or snap it, it’s just not cool to use Spectacles while driving.
Now for the fun stuff. Check out Snapchat’s Spectacles video to learn more about this very sweet new technology!
To learn more about distracted driving and to help save lives, stop by our Facebook Group StopDD.Today
