Programs keep drivers off cell phones
Software and services that keep people from phoning while driving are becoming more popular as statistics grow that all phone usage in the car, including hands-free, is dangerous.
Concern is growing among insurers (and certainly among other drivers) that the use of a cell phone while driving is dangerous, not only to the mobile yakker but also for other members of the driving public. Statistics are readily available that show mobile conversations from behind the wheel cause accidents and many states are dealing with the issue by passing a variety of legal restrictions on the use of phones while driving.
Still, there are two schools of thought on the matter. One school favors tools that let drivers make calls in a hands-free manner while the other thinks that only total telephone abstinence behind the wheel will solve the problem. The statistics seem to be behind the prohibitionists, according to a story in the New York Times, and there are a number of companies producing solutions that keep drivers from using their phones while on the road.
Companies such as ZoomSafer, Aegis Mobility, and ObdEdge sell programs that use the GPS signal now available in most phones to know when a user is driving and not standing still or just walking. When the software detects that the phone is moving fast enough to be in a car, the system shuts down the user’s phone. There are ways in most monitoring systems to circumvent the rules when you’re just riding in a car and not driving, but those actions also usually send a message to your chosen monitor (your Mom or pseudo-Mom) that you are simultaneously moving and talking.
Hands-free systems do nothing to impress insurance companies, but at least one insurer is considering a premium discount for drivers that sign up for one of the monitoring systems, which usually cost under $100 plus a monthly fee, generally around $5. Perhaps if discounts from insurers became more common, more people would sign up for a monitoring service, resulting in safer driving for all of us. Too many of those driving callers are also unsafe drivers and most of us would very happy to see them paying much more attention to their driving.
Related Posts:
November 23rd, 2009
I wholeheartedly agree with a ban on cellphone use while driving, because it is obvious even to oneself that it is dangerous. Even the hands free solution may require taking one’s attention from the road on order to initiate or end a call.
The problem I have with the GPS based blocking system is that it will also disallow a passenger in a car, or a person travelling on a train or a bus from legitimately using their phone, at a time when it is safe for them to do so.
November 23rd, 2009
ZoomSafer, one of the products mentioned above, allows passengers to exit the application just as you have suggested above. Check it out at http://www.zoomsafer.com