Distracted driving has long been a problem. What’s sadder is that it only seems to be getting worse. Over the years, more and more distractions have arisen on cell phones, tablets, and even your car dashboard. To put it simply, good ole’ SMS text messaging isn’t the only distraction in the car anymore when it comes to your phone.
In case you were wondering what a few other ‘popular’ distractions are, here is a (very) short list:
- Snapchat
- Spotify
- iMessage
- Pokemon Go
While texting while driving is illegal in many states, the price you pay for it doesn’t carry the weight of its consequences, per se, in some states. And it definitely doesn’t stop you from texting either.
When it comes to the law, currently 46 of the 50 states have prohibited texting for all drivers, and 41 of the 50 make it a primary enforcement.
Texting is not the sole problem. Not one state has banned all cell phone use by all drivers. Though, 38 states do ban any and all cell phone use for novice drivers (defined by each state) and 20 sates prohibit it for school bus drivers.
The solution?
Scott Tibbits of Boulder, Colorado, has invented a temporary blocking device for one’s phone that can be plugged into a port on a vehicle’s steering wheel. The device, called Groove by Katasi, is designed to “halt incoming texts and other potential distractions as soon as the vehicle moves past 5 mph.”
However, if you’re a business owner with a commercial auto policy or ever have employees on the road, for any reason, you should already have a distracted driving policy in place.
Interested in what the typical distracted driving policy looks like? See here on osha.gov for a downloadable version of their Employee Policy on Driving Distracted.
The goal with this type of device for the future is to unite phone companies, insurance carries, and devices like Groove to develop a relationship that will most importantly save lives as well as potentially lower auto insurance premiums and make the roads safer in general.
