New technology helps driver safety

Published 10:33 pm Sunday, November 29, 2009

As lawmakers sound the alarm about dangers of distracted driving from cell phones and other gadgets, cutting-edge entrepreneurs are already a step ahead this holiday season, producing a new generation of tools they claim will help you drive more safely.

Call it nanny software, designed to save technology-addicted drivers from their worst impulses, notably chatting on handheld cell phones and sending text messages.

One new application, DriveSafe.ly, reads incoming text messages aloud, allowing the driver to keep eyes on the road.

It automatically sends a pre-recorded message of the driver’s choice back, such as: “Hey, I’m driving, txt u later.”

“People (now) have an insatiable need to be connected,” and that’s not going to go away, DriveSafe.ly creator Heath Ahrens said. “We are trying to do it in a responsible way.”

Another application turns your dash-mounted smart phone into a speed monitor, displaying both the speed limit and how fast you’re going. Surpass the limit, and the display colors change from green to red. ASafeDrive is advertised as available in Los Angeles, with expansion promised soon to other cities.

Yet another program, PhantomALERT, issues a voice warning for you to slow down when it determines you are approaching an intersection with a red-light camera, speed traps, a school zone or a railroad crossing.

Some road safety officials say the innovations look like a new set of somewhat safer toys for drivers to play with instead of simply turning their cell phones off and focusing on the road.

But advocates say they will help drivers stay legal, stay in touch, and drive more sanely than we’ve seen on the roads lately.

“We’re mobile-device addicted,” said software entrepreneur Matt Howard of Virginia, who created the ZoomSafer smart-phone program. “Every one of us thinks we are a fighter pilot and we can multitask zooming around town.”

Howard’s ZoomSafer screens incoming text messages, allowing in only selected calls.

It also issues a message when you start your car. Howard recorded his daughter’s voice: “Hi, Daddy. It’s me, Grace. I love you and wanted to remind you to drive safe.”

Business executive Jack Martin of Boston downloaded ZoomSafer last month after a driver killed a pedestrian near his home. Both were rumored to be texting at the time.

“When you hear stuff like that, it has gotten to the point where something has to change,” Martin said.

The new technology joins innovations in voice communication already under way for several years. Auto manufacturers have begun adding voice-activated Bluetooth technology for hands-free phone use.

The turn toward safer telecommunications is spurred in part by recent efforts to crack down on distracted driving.

Text messaging is the safety issue now most under the regulatory microscope.

Unheard of just a few years ago, texting is now pervasive. More than 1 trillion texts were transmitted over U.S. networks in the last year, and the traffic continues to rise, according to CTIA — The Wireless Association, which represents Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T and other companies.

Nineteen states now ban texting while driving. Seven ban driver use of handheld phones, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood called a national summit on distracted driving in October, making it one of his key safety issues.

“Too many people are being injured or killed by something that is completely within our own ability to stop,” LaHood said.