As much as we love our phones, their widespread use
has a number of negative consequences, and the fact
that almost one in four car collisions involve cell
phones is a particularly grave one. However, many innovators
have responded to this danger, developing technologies
that aim to reduce the role of cell phones in distracted
driving. These devices and applications serve to build
understanding of the perils of distracted driving as
well as to fight drivers' urges to use their phones
on the road.
One way app developers have addressed the issue of
cell phones and road safety is through education. Some
applications focus specifically on the issue of distracted
driving, teaching users of the potential consequences
and dangers of averting their eyes from the road. Other
applications, often geared towards teenagers and other
new drivers, focus on advising their users on generally
safe driving practices. Some such apps, like Steer Clear
Mobile, even track learners' and newly licensed drivers'
progress.
While education is invaluable, an even more effective
means of discouraging cell phone use while driving is
simply to limit or prevent it. Drivers can buy devices
that do just this, blocking smart phone applications
such as texting, camera, and social media apps when
the user is driving. Devices like Cellcontrol also block
the phone application unless the cell phone in use detects
a headset, ensuring that drivers have both hands and
all their attention available for driving.
In addition to external devices, a number of applications
also restrict cell phone use while driving, making the
phone itself an agent of road safety. Such apps impose
restrictions on users' phones such as locking the screen
once it detects that the car is traveling at a certain,
low speed, like five miles per hour. Some apps also
have features such as sending automated replies to messages
while the user is driving, while other, more lenient
applications read messages and emails aloud to the user.
These applications can not only protect drivers, but
monitor them. Several driving safety apps designed for
young, newly licensed drivers have functions enabling
parents to receive alerts of any dangerous behavior,
such as when their child exceeds a certain speed or
breaks any other restrictions. Apps like Safe Driver
can even inform parents, using GPS, where any infractions
occur.
Many of these applications are free or inexpensive,
and a wide variety of driving safety apps exist for
Android, iPhone, Blackberry, and Windows Mobile, making
these innovations well able to keep all smart phone
owners safe on the road. While these measures do not
erase the danger of distracted driving, they offer the
ability to diminish the danger of perhaps one of the
largest contributors to this phenomenon, changing the
role of mobile devices in driving safety and making
the roads safer one cell phone user at a time.
About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for NotePageSMS and
text messaging software http://www.notepage.net
and FeedForAll software for creating, editing, publishing
RSS feeds and podcasts http://www.feedforall.com
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