Should we have a degree in button-pushing? Modern dashboards are gettingmore like aircraft controls. Brian Byrne calls for a dose of sanity
The signature tune for Coronation Street wafted out of the car's speakers. Then as we pulled up to the traffic lights and set the handbrake the screen in the dash of the Rover 75 switched from blank to the opening sequence of the night's Corrie action.
TV is alive and well in the dashboards of Irish cars. What was once a gimmick in high-end cars is slowly seeping down to us common folk.
Most agree there should be some kind of ban on the use of mobile phones in a car. But there's something in most modern cars today that has infinitely more lethal potential than the mobile phone. The radio, or, as it is now, the "ound system". And, for good measure, we've added television.
The buttons. The switches. The screens. The complexity that needs a degree in sound engineering to operate and takes its marks from the airline cockpit.
Somewhere along the line, the stylists took over from the ergonomists. The look and individual style was more important than the trivial details of its operation or ease of use. The number of buttons became more significant even than true technical details like automatic selection of strongest transmitters as you drive.
So, in many car sound systems nowadays, there's a +/- rocker switch to control the volume. Try operating that without taking your eyes off the road. The task is infinitely easier with a decent sized rotating knob.
Then there's the problem of all those controls being too small, increasing the amount of distraction in finding and operating them.
Many carmakers, driven by security concerns, have integrated systems that are part of the whole dashboard area. This means they are not transferable to any other make.
Thankfully, the option of remote operation from a steering column stalk is now more common. These are much safer and easier to use.
Yet we're also seeing greater use of 'information screens' that provide an ever-increasing output of data, including radio station selection. This is a step backwards in terms of driver consideration, and in two recent top-end luxury cars I found their screen-based systems to be complicated and awkward, and therefore distracting, to use.
As for the TVs, if it's installed by a reputable dealer it will be wired through the handbrake, so it can't be used on the move. But there's no guarantee that DIY owners won't be tempted to wire them without the lockout. In the US it has become a problem, with an increasing number of accidents being attributed to drivers watching TV in moving traffic.
Even if installed properly, there's a real argument that having the screen working while stopped at traffic lights is a distraction that drivers can ill afford today. Not to mention the fact that listening to a TV football commentary while on the move might tempt a driver into a fast stop by the verge to see the replay of a goal he's just heard being scored. With the potential of serious mayhem for anyone travelling behind.
Insurance companies are going to become interested if the trend continues. I reckon they'll be looking closely at inexplicable accidents to see what was hot on local television at the time of the crunch, and checking for un-notified accessories.
The regulators are having enough trouble keeping up with mobile phones and penalty points. They've not even managed to deal with poorly-designed radios. It will probably be left to the TV Licence Inspector to sort out the flickering screen in our automobiles.
So, for any carmaker tuning in today, we have one plea: Keep it simple. And to those regulators in Brussels, can we have some rules about the sizes of buttons on radios? Bigger is better.