Safe Driving Software Aims to Block Texting, E-Mailing, and Browsing While Driving
by admin on 29/10/11 at 1:01 am
Technology is emerging that could solve one of the most dangerous forms of distracted driving: texting, e-mailing, and web-surfing while driving. Two firms, Manage Mobility and WebSafety, Inc., announced a partnership to provide software to government agencies and businesses that disables the texting, e-mailing and Web-browsing functions of a wireless phone in moving vehicles. Manage Mobility, a management and logistics firm, will provide technology developed by WebSafety Inc.
“We are being asked by our customers what to do on this sort of thing, especially since October … when President Obama issued the federal order banning federal employees from texting while operating government-owned vehicles,” says Stacy Chisum, Manage Mobility’s vice president of sales.
Thirty states and the District of Columbia have banned the practice, but the laws are difficult to enforce. The national movement to discourage it — aimed mostly at young drivers — is spreading to corporate employees and the U.S. government. Unfortunately, laws banning texting while driving may simply result in drivers holding their phones at lap level while texting so that the phone is not visible to police, thus creating an even more dangerous situation.
Several applications disable cellphones when a vehicle is moving, preventing texting or surfing the Web. These apps, including iZup, tXtBlocker, ZoomSafer and CellSafety, use a phone’s GPS to determine when a vehicle is moving, and block the ability to text when the car is going faster than 5 or 10 mph. Some apps have opt-out features for passengers. The apps do not work on the iPhone.
This technology should be on every parents’ wish list.
