Driving While Distracted: Can technology stop the problem it caused?

Featured article by Jeremy Sutter, Independent Technology Author

Texting while driving, checking Facebook, answering tweets, and glancing at Instagram are just a few ways that technology has impacted driving habits. Nearly everyone knows someone that has that bad habit, driving while distracted.

Smartphones

It all started with the introduction of the Smartphone. Smartphones are phones that can perform computer functions, while also functioning as a regular telephone, receiving calls and texts. Many of the applications available on a Smartphone are touch screen, which means that the user of the phone only has to touch the screen to activate the function. These functions include playing games, sending emails, checking stock quotes, information about the weather, and the ability to watch football games. Social media and connections to the internet are a given for Smartphone users; almost everyone with a Smartphone has this function.

How We Use Them

Pew Research Center conducted a month-long survey in 2014 that listed all the things people did from their cellphone besides talk; 62 percent used their phone for knowledge about a health condition, 57 percent did their banking, 44 percent used their phone to search for housing, 43 percent checked the job advertisements, 30 percent took classes online from their phone, and 40 percent checked government websites like the IRS, etc. Eighty-eight percent of owners use their phone for email access and 97 percent use their phones for text messaging.

How They Impact Drivers

Even though Smartphone use has increased from 52 percent in 2011 to 80 percent in 2014, smart uses of phones have not. The advent of Smartphones has not yielded smarter drivers. Texting while driving has been reported to cause 1.6 million accidents per year. From these accidents, 330,000 suffered injuries and 3,149 of them died. There are 11 teen deaths every day due to texting and driving.

Even though teens have the highest percentage of accidents due to texting, adults over the age of 50 are embracing the new technology in growing numbers. This is unfortunate because drivers that are texting or using their cell phones are six times more likely to be involved in a car accident than a driver who is intoxicated.

Cellphone Providers Have Noticed

With the pervasive use of mobile internet services while driving impacting so many lives adversely, the cell phone providers have some free applications available to download for use. AT&T offers a Drive Mode program that plays a message for the driver informing the caller or texter that the person is unavailable and driving. Sprint has an app called Drive First and Verizon offers Safely Go that provides similar functions.

New Solutions

A popular device that is flying off the shelves currently is DriveID by Cell Control. Mounted to the windshield of the car, this monitor detects who is driving, then blocks calls and internet functions on their phone while they are driving. DriveID is solar powered and has an included app to be downloaded to the phone. In addition to shutting down the distracting features of the phone, the monitor also sends a report to a second party, like the parents, to inform them of the driver’s bad habits. This device is currently selling for under $150.

Another auto protection device that is being introduced is called Groove. Groove is mounted in the car underneath the steering wheel, and sends a message to the cloud that the owner of the cell phone is driving. Groove blocks cellphone functions that include texts, and internet functions like tweets and pings from social media, and then sends the message to the sender that the recipient is driving. As soon as the person turns off the car engine Groove downloads the data for the driver. Groove will be charged monthly as a service, but pricing information has not been released.

Technology may have created the monster, distracted driving, but technology may be the creature to save our lives, also.