Safety Aspects of CRT Touch Panel Controls in Automobiles

The introduction of in-vehicle CRT touch panel controls which require a number of consecutive eye fixations and a fairly stringent eye-hand-finger coordination and touch accuracy for several seconds inside a moving vehicle should be reconsidered and delayed. CRT touch panel controls and their sequential operation, as investigated in this study, do not seem to provide adequate driver safety and performance. In their present form, CRT touch panels appear not to be as safe as knobs, push buttons and levers that are currently being used. A tentative design guide is proposed and presented to aid designers in the design and applications of CRT touch panels and sophisticated displays in automobiles which will, hopefully, be more in tune with human capabilities and limitations and will ensure a more adequate and acceptable level of safety and driver performance during their operation while driving along a straight, smooth road with no other traffic close by and no traffic control devices or other obstacles present.