Researchers from across the world are at the University of Michigan talking about ways to reduce distracted driving at the International Conference on Driver Distraction.

We have all seen the results of distracted driving first hand, but beyond the personal responsibility factor of a bad driver, in-vehicle technologies like touch screen interfaces and phone pairings can also have a role to play. Jessica Cicchino with the U.S. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says safety is a balancing act.

“There are definitely concerns about all of the things that are in vehicles that are taking people’s attention away from the road,” Cicchino  said. “At the same time, some of the new safety technology that’s come into vehicles has been really promising and we’ve seen things like automatic emergency braking and lane departure warning really reducing crashes.”

Cicchino says there may be a time when there are driverless cars and we don’t have to worry about distracted driving, but that’s a long way off.