The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has released proposed guidelines designed to reduce driver distraction caused by mobile and other electronic devices in vehicles.

The recommendations are the second phase of voluntary guidelines the agency has developed to address driver distraction on U.S. roads, and cover portable and aftermarket electronic device manufacturers.

The first phase focused on devices or systems built into the vehicle at the time of manufacture.

Voluntary guidelines address driver distraction on U.S. roads. Image credit: PixabayThe proposed, voluntary guidelines encourage aftermarket device developers to design products that can be easily paired with original equipment (OE) systems and operated through the OE in-vehicle interface. NHTSA says pairing should ensure that certain activities that inherently interfere with the driver’s ability to safely control the vehicle would be "locked out" while driving, including:

· Showing video not related to driving or automatically scrolling text;

· Allowing manual text entry for messaging or internet browsing; and

· Displaying text for reading from books, messages, web pages, or social media.

NHTSA advises manufacturers that do not block these functions to offer a simplified “driver mode” interface that effectively limits device functionality when it is being used unpaired while driving—either because pairing is unavailable or the driver decides not to pair.

Driver mode would not activate when the device—by itself or in conjunction with the vehicle in which it is being used—distinguishes that the device is being used by a non-driver, for example, a passenger, the agency says.