In an episode of The One Show which aired on the 15th April, BVI contributed to an item demonstrating the dangers of texting while driving. Recent studies have indicated that reading and even writing text messages while behind the wheel is on the rise, especially amongst younger adults.
After approaching the BVI for advice on the best way to communicate this to its audience, The One Show production team invited University of Bristol BVI researcher Dr Felix Mercer Moss onto an airfield just outside Bristol to help perform an experiment.
A BVI mobile eye tracker was used to discover that drivers navigating the makeshift course spent as manyas two seconds looking away from the road while replying to a text. The same drivers then learnt that for subsequent laps a customised pair of ‘black-out’ goggles would be worn that simulated their inattention on previous laps.
The `black-out’ goggles caused carnage on the airfield, and in doing so, provided viewers with a stark reminder to keep their phon
es in their pockets when on the road.
To watch before Sunday 16th May, go to minute 13:44 on the link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b078wvcs/the-one-show-15042016