First it was push-button cigarette lighters, then car radios, then 8-track players, cassette players, CD players, to today with the multiple distractions that can occupy the attention of drivers of moving vehicles, whether is be cars, trains, buses, trucks, etc. Just as technology has multiplied the distractions to drivers, it is now giving us safeguards to minimize the effect of those distractions.
Text Messaging
If you had the chance to help save lives with the click of a button, would you? How about saving 20 percent of the population, and at least 66 percent of the youth population? There may soon be an app for that.
Earlier this month new software was released that uses GPS technology to block text messaging, e-mails, and Internet browsing when the phone speed reaches 10 mph or more.
The app, known as "Textecution" differs from previous apps like it because it completely locks your phone when it recognizes that you are moving faster than a walking speed. For now, the software is only available with Android technology. The app is available through most carriers for the price of $29.99.
The idea behind Textecution was for parents to install the software on their teen's phone so that they know their teen isn't sending out texts while they are driving. Along with providing parents with peace of mind, they have now added a feature that will notify a parent by text message if the teen removes the app from their phone.
When more than 50 percent of teens admit to text messaging while driving, there is a serious problem. By adding more technology like this for other phones, it is possible to lower the number of preventable deaths caused by a driver being distracted by a text message.
Drunk Driving
More than 31 percent of automobile accidents are caused by drunk driving. In 2008, Mothers Against Drunk Driving estimated that nearly 12,000 people were killed as a result. A little bit of technology called "Driver Alcohol Detections System for Safety" could potentially cut down on those numbers.
For the past 20 years there has been something similar used by convicted drunk drivers to prevent them from being repeat offenders. That technology is basically a breath-based alcohol ignition interlock that requires the driver to blow and provide a breath sample each time before starting the vehicle. The new technology being developed would require a much less intrusive technology that wouldn't involve a breathalyzer requiring a sample before each start up. They are still working and researching on the specifics of what the system could consist of.
Right now, between the Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, these technologies are still in the process of research on way to make a feasible product that wouldn't slow down the driving process for someone who hasn't been drinking.
The plan, as it stands, would provide a prototype of a new vehicle that has the technology built in by 2013. After plans to have new vehicles all contain such a system, there might be an after-market product that consumers could install into their vehicles they already own.
