As we covered in a recent blog post, injuries and deaths due to distracted driving are on the rise. The news isn’t getting any better as Jacob Lammers from The News-Herald serving Northern Ohio reports in an article yesterday:
According to a study from the American Journal of Public Health, distracted driving fatalities increased 28 percent after 2005, rising from 4,572 fatalities to 5,870 in 2008. Distracted driving fatalities had dropped from 1999 to 2005.
The main cause, as you may have guessed, is the boom in technology. Cell phones not only let you talk while on the road, but allow people to also text, check their Twitter accounts, Facebook accounts and even log onto the Internet at speeds as fast as desktop computers.
With all this being said, where there is technology to distract, there is technology to help people get their eyes on the road. One company leading the way is CellControl. The company offers products for family use that when applied, will notice when a family member is in a vehicle and will disable all communication devices (texting, internet use, etc) when in motion.
CellControll also offers products for vehicle fleets and will participate in this week’s 36th Annual National Association for Pupil Transportation (NAPT) Summit in Portland, Oregon.
Until these types of disabling technologies are used in the mainstream, please keep your eyes on the road. The text or phone call can wait till you reach your destination.
* Cell Phone picture courtesy of samantha celera via Flickr Creative Commons
