SALT LAKE CITY, Sept. 27, 2010 – If drivers are yakking on cell
phones and don't hear spoken instructions to turn left or right
from a passenger or navigation system, they still can get
directions from devices that are mounted on the steering wheel
and pull skin on the driver's index fingertips left or right, a
University of Utah study found. The researchers say they don't
want their results to encourage dangerous and distracted driving
by cell phone users. Instead, they hope the study will point to
new touch-based directional devices to help motorists and
hearing-impaired people drive more safely. The same technology
also could help blind pedestrians with a cane that provides
directional cues to the person's thumb. "It has the potential of
being a safer way of doing what's already being done –
delivering information that people are already getting with in-
car GPS navigation systems," says the study's lead author,
William Provancher, an assistant professor of mechanical
engineering at the University of Utah.