The mobile app markets have a large variety of apps that are meant to keep mobile phone users safer on the road. Some of the apps give an auto-reply that the driver is occupied and unavailable when the built in GPS system discovers the phone is moving above a minimum speed, thus identifying the driver is in movement on a road. The app then compiles and displays a list of the missed calls, texts, and alerts for the driver to view when their journey is complete or the car is not in motion. There are others that read aloud text messages and can have a reply sent through voice commands. Still others group certain callers into categories to get “currently driving will reply later” messages while other category calls such as those from family members are cleared to go through the phone as usual.
In reality any mobile app that does anything besides shut off the phone while the driver is occupied on the road is doing less than what is needed. Drivers need to learn to put their mobile phones aside. Parents need to set good examples and not use their mobile phones while driving and young drivers need to be reminded that no text message is worth a life.
According to the charity organization Brake, a study they headed revealed that of those polled three in 10 drivers texted while driving and one in thirteen texts while driving at least once a week. Another research study conducted by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute showed that the impact of sending or reading text messages by young drivers amounted to having spent 400% more time with their eyes off the road. Distracted driving due to texting has become the number one killer over distracted driving by drink driving or drugs.
Brake will be sponsoring Road Safety Week 18-24 November.
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