With more and more car makers incorporating advanced tech into their vehicles, the Department of Transportation today released some voluntary guidelines for how manufacturers can help cut down on distracted driving.

The guidelines establish criteria for manufacturers installing in-vehicle features communications, entertainment, and navigation devices  that require drivers to take their hands off the wheel or eyes off the road to use.

According to USDOT, motorists should not be performing any task that takes their attention away from the road for more than two seconds at a time, and 12 seconds in total. The Department even suggests that carmakers disable certain operations, like writing text messaging or Internet browsing, video phoning or conferencing, and the display of text messages, Web pages, and social media content  unless the vehicle is stopped and in park.

"Distracted driving is a deadly epidemic that has devastating consequences on our nation's roadways," U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement. "These guidelines recognize that today's drivers appreciate technology, while providing automakers with a way to balance the innovation consumers want with the safety we all need."

A recently released study sponsored by the Southwest Region University Transportation Center and conducted by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute revealed that even hands-free texting options can prove dangerous.

In each test case, drivers' reaction times were "significantly delayed" while manually texting or using a hands-free app, which prompted drivers to take their eyes off the road to complete the task.

Citing a new National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study, NHTSA administrator David Strickland said today that visual-manual tasks can degrade a driver's focus and increase threefold the likelihood of a crash.

"The new guidelines and our ongoing work with our state partners across the country will help us put an end to the dangerous practice of distracted driving by limiting the amount of time drivers take their eyes off the road, hands off the wheel and their attention away from the task of driving," he said.

USDOT's voluntary guidelines are part of LaHood's Blueprint for Ending Distracted Driving  a comprehensive plan that the Department has been pushing for three years. Earlier this month, NHTSA revealed horrifying statistics about texting and talking while driving, including the fact that at any daytime moment, about 660,000 drivers across America are using a cell phone behind the wheel.

"Combined with good laws, good enforcement and good education, these guidelines can save lives," LaHood said.

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