Preventing Distracted Driving: There’s an App for That

During my required college physical, my PCP asked me, "Do you know what is the number one killer for people your age?" I had no idea that he was going to tell me it was automobile accidents.

The Doctor was right, according to the U.S. Dept. of Transportation, 15 people are killed each day by a distracted driver. It’s hard to believe that this number is so high. But when you think about it, the number of distractions that we have in life are increasing. We take those distractions with us when we sit behind the wheel, even though we shouldn’t.

The technology that introduced us to text messaging, which is an increasing cause of distracted driving, has also introduced us to a way to keep people from texting while driving.

Web Safety recently introduced Cell Safety, a cell phone app that prevents the driver from reading or sending a text message, or even accessing their web browser when the car is going more than 10 mph.

Useful for parents who are setting this up for their children, the application also has the option to send a text message to a designated number informing them that that there was an attempt to access the messaging capabilities while driving.

Today, the government sponsored campaign, Faces of Distracted Driving, released their latest story with a video put together by friends of 21-year-old Casey Feldman, of Springfield PA, who was killed by a distracted driver in July 2009. Since the accident, Casey’s friends have become more aware of their own driving habits and advocated for others to do the same.

It is through stories like Casey’s that we hope to change other people’s minds, and learn just how important paying attention while operating a motor vehicle is.

While we hope that young people will take the tragic experiences of others to heart, and the desire to avoid them will be enough to influence their behavior, it is good to know that when they resist, there is an app for that.