Car Insurance and Multimedia

The age of technology is definitely upon us with the amount of multimedia products now available for in-car use at an all time high. The question is with all this multimedia now readily available on today's market is it distracting the users from the road on which they are travelling?

The fact is that the law now states that it is illegal to use a mobile phone whilst driving without the use of a hands fee kit. So what other multimedia products are we using which are readily available on the market that would distract us from the road in the same fashion as a mobile phone?

This article will look at a few of the most popular products on the market today and discus their effects on driving safety.

Apple i-pod - Apple revolutionised the Mp3 player market last year with the release of the i-pod. The i-pod comes in many different sizes and allows the user to store up to 10,000 songs in a compact hand held unit. Devices for playing the i-pod across your car stereo have been on the market for the past year and the most readily available comes in the form of a transmitter that is connected to the unit allowing you to transmit the music across radio waves. This means that all you have to do is pick a frequency and tune your radio in to that frequency to access your tune data base. The problem arises when the driver decides they want to change tracks and has to take their eyes off the road to operate the i-pod. Apple have no responsibility for this as they have provided functions to programme play lists before you set off on your journey but inevitably some drivers are not using this system. The fact is that a lot can happen on the road while you are scrolling through your i-pod and this will increase your risk of being involved in an accident. We all know that accidents can increase your car insurance.

All the major car stereo manufacturers are addressing this situation with the development of i-pod enabled head units. These units should allow the driver to operate the i-pod via the car stereo and therefore reducing the risk of accident and helping to keep motor insurance premiums down.

Satellite Navigation - Satellite Navigation or Sat Nav as it is also known has been around for years but now that the hardware and software are coming down in price they are becoming more popular. The basic idea behind Sat Nav is that it uses GPS technology to pin point the driver and can guide you to a desired location. The concept behind the devices is a good one and can make a complicated journey less stressful. It also means that a driver is less likely to get lost and cause disruption while figuring out where they need to go. This can surely only be a good thing due to the fact that if a driver is confident of where they are going then they can pay closer attention to the road, which reduces the chance of accident and helps to keep down car insurance costs.

The problem lies with the use of Sat Nav devices that require the driver to physically look at the screen to see where they have to be. These devices remove the driver's attention away from the road and can lead to accidents. To avoid the costs incurred by an accident drivers should purchase a device with voice guided directions allowing you to keep concentration on the road at all times.

Everybody knows that being distracted from the road for even a split second can result in an accident. We all know that accidents can increase our car insurance and cause severe or fatal injury. With this in mind maybe we should all be a bit more responsible about the in car entertainment we are buying that can distract us from driving, maybe we would all be better off keeping two eyes firmly on the road ahead.

Part 2 of this article will look at two more popular in car multimedia devices that are distracting the UK's motoring community form the road ahead.