If you are nervous about your kids driving while texting, or if you yourself are a repeat offender, a few app companies are taking it upon themselves to help you kick the habit.
According to statistics released by Allstate Insurance Company, texting and driving results in car crashes that kill an average of 11 teens each day, 330,000 distracted driving injuries every year and makes drivers 23 times more likely to have an accident. Those are some serious numbers.
Now, the phone that your kids may be using to send those dangerous texts, may actually be the way to prevent them from doing it.
In March, AT&T launched a public service campaign called It Can Wait to educate teens on the dangers of texting while driving. Now, several software companies are developing phone applications to deter or prevent people from using their phone while behind the wheel.
According to the Associated Press, Drive Safely Corp. wants to use built-in GPS chips that would detect when a mobile device is moving faster than 15 miles per hour, which would really only happen in a car, with a few exceptions. The phone would then flash a series of numbers and letters that the user has to match on the keypad in order to unlock the phone. The manufacturers are assuming that drivers won’t be able to match the sequence and drive at the same time.
Companies like ZoomSafer, TxtBlocker, CellSafety and Textecution are either developing or already provide GPS/speed-based services, which either hold incoming texts until the end of the car ride or completely block users from writing and sending outgoing messages.
Some developers are talking about installing text blocking devices in vehicles rather than through cell phones.
These apps will only work on certain phones and are, of course, up to the consumer to utilize.
The obvious problem here is that people will still attempt to text, but the increased amount of focus needed to do so will result in more distracted drivers. Hopefully, these apps will be a big enough deterrent that the ‘LOL’ your child so desperately wants to respond with can wait until the car ride is over.
