Hands-free texting risky, police say

Smartphone applications that allow drivers to send and receive text messages while keeping their hands on the wheel may be legal, but police are concerned they will lead to more distracted drivers.

At least five smartphone apps now on the market offer voice technology that converts text messages to audio messages, and then allow the user to speak out their responses, which are converted to text.

The applications are designed to allow drivers to keep using handheld devices while on the road, which is illegal in every province except New Brunswick and Alberta, where laws passed last year are expected to take effect later in 2011. The Yukon Territory also passed legislation that will come into effect later this year.

Ottawa resident Georges Khoury said he installed a voice application on his phone a month ago, after a near accident.

"Police say that if you need to use the phone or text, park on the side," said Khoury. "But most of the time I'm in a hurry. I'm not going to be able to do that ... and I was able to find this app."

The new applications may be legal, but Ottawa police Sgt. Al Ferris said police are worried they'll become the latest driving distraction.

"It'll catch on like wildfire," said Ferris. "Anything new and exciting. If they can do it and try to get away with it, they're going to try it. And unfortunately it is going to be a risk to us."

Ferris said anything that takes your mind off the task of driving is going to be a risk.

Distraction poses risk, researchers say

Some research suggests that the danger of using mobile phones is not just about holding a device in hand.

"It's about attention/distraction, not about hands," Yoko Ishigami, a Dalhousie University psychologist, told CBC in a 2010 interview. "It's kind of misleading that people ban only hand-held phones. It gives the wrong impression that it's okay to talk on the phone, which is not good at all."

A 2010 study by the U.S. Highway Loss Data Institute found that 20 jurisdictions in the United States that banned driving and texting and seven that banned driving and talking on hand-held devices did not experience a drop in accident claims, relative to states without a ban.

The institute said one possible explanation was that people were switching to hands-free devices.

Ferris said police will be monitoring the use of hands-free texting applications, and if they discover a problem they will ask the province to step in and ban all texting.