Touchscreens make simple tasks harder than buttons, say half of drivers

A study conducted by Scrap Car Comparison found that 54% of drivers think touchscreens make simple tasks harder, compared with buttons.

Scrap Car Comparison found that entering a sat nav destination took an average of 15.21 seconds, during which time a car driving at 70mph would travel 476 metres.

Turning off lane-keep assist was found to take an average of 12.67 seconds

42% of drivers surveyed said they had avoided buying or leasing a car because its main controls are touchscreen-only, while 51% said they wish OEMs would install buttons for key functions.

A quarter (24%) of drivers said they have missed a turn or exit because they were distracted by touchscreens, while 10% said they have been in a serious collision due to a touchscreen.

Matt Clamp, regional sales manager at Scrap Car Comparison, said: “Most people assume setting a sat nav is a two-second job, but the data puts it closer to 15 seconds, which means that people could cover almost 500 metres of road while doing so at motorway speed. 

“That’s a long stretch to cover without paying attention to the road. My advice would be, if a touchscreen task can wait until the car is stopped, then it should.

“What people also forget is that this can get worse as a car ages. An older touchscreen is slower to load, less responsive to touch and more likely to lag, so the same task can take longer.”