Technologies Solutions To Distracted Driving

Distracted driving is one of the main causes contributing to driving deaths. With the increased awareness of this fact, numerous individuals and softward companies are trying to battle the techno-driving war head on. And an ever increasing number of driver safety technologies such as attention alert devices, mobile apps, driver awareness programs, and even safe-driving apps are rapidly hitting the market.   

An example of one such attention alert device is Driver Sleep Alarm MR688, which uses infrared camera to detect and identify if the driver is distracted and trigger an alert of impending danger. Also, it offers vibrate alarm to drivers according to demands of drivers.

Mobile Life Solutions has developed an app called TextLimt, which allows a parent or administrator to remotely program a phone’s touch screen to automatically disable when it reaches a specific speed limit. CellControl sells a device that uses Bluetooth to prevent a driver from texting while the car is moving, while apps like Textecution or TextArrest automatically disable a phone’s texting feature when they sense that the car’s speed has exceeded 5 or 10 mph.

The newest safe driving app, RoadWars: Own the Road, is a social game that aims to improve driving skills by allowing users to see which of their friends are the safest drivers. According to the developer, RoadWars is designed to make safe driving fun for teens as well as adults. The game awards “coins” and allows drivers to “capture” roads if they remain focused while driving and don’t speed, swerve, answer calls or texts, or touch the phone while the app is running.

Unless parents and drivers take the situation seriously, all of these technologies will not prevent distracted driving. One startling statistic is that when a driver is sending or receiving a text, the driver is not looking at the road for 4.6 seconds. If traveling at a speed of 55 miles per hour, a driver who is sending or receiving a text will be blind to the road for the length of a football field. When viewed in that context, a driver who is texting while on the road has a greater risk of causing an accident than even a drunk driver, because his or her eyes are completely off the road.