Thaindian News

March 30, 2010 (Pen Men at Work): Several companies have come forward to address the major problem of drivers holding a cell phone while driving, whether for texting or talking and lot of time ending up with an accident. At the biggest trade show of America for the wireless industry last week, many companies expressed their desire to come up with some application that will curb the use of cell phones while driving. But it seems that creating an effective, widespread solution looks a lot harder than putting in reminders for seat belts.

Many states ban drivers from using cell phones without hands free devices, but a recent insurance industry study found that such laws haven’t reduced crashes. Many believe such laws are hard to implement as it practically impossible to keep a tab on every motorist on the road. At least a dozen startups have produced phone apps designed to curb the temptation to use the phone while driving. But these applications work only on some phones and have a hard time figuring out if the user is actually driving.

The questions have been raised over the effectiveness of such an application as, a lot of time, some of the tools might not even improve safety. For example, Drive Safely Corp. has proposed to put software on phones to detect, using a built-in GPS chip, when a device is moving faster than 15 miles per hour. To figure out whether the phone is being used by a driver or a passenger, who can safely text in the car, Drive Safely intends to have the phone flash a series of numbers and letters that the user has to match on the keypad. The assumption is that drivers won’t be able to match the sequence while watching the road, so they won’t be able to unlock it for texting.

It remains to be seen what kind of device is invented by the companies concerned, which can be effective in curbing use of cell phones while driving.