Smart Phone Apps

Cel Phone Apps That Prevent Texting While Driving

Last month my nineteen year old niece was driving home from cheerleading practice at UCLA. She was looking at her iPhone text messages instead of focusing on the road ahead of her. She said she only looked away for a few seconds and then – bam!  She slammed into the vehicle in front of her while driving at over 50 MPH. She broke her right ankle and had bruises on her face due to the impact from the air bag.

Now she will be on crutches for her first big sorority dance and will be sidelined from cheer practice for at least twelve weeks. Unfortunately accidents like this happen every day. Sometimes drivers aren’t as lucky as she was, as her injuries could have been much, much worse.

This accident demonstrates the real dangers of texting while driving. We all know texting and checking emails while driving is very dangerous behavior. Yet many people take their safety for granted and continue to routinely check their email and text messages while behind the wheel.

Even though texting while driving is risky, occasionally situations happen in which you need to send or receive a text message while driving. Like if you are running late for a meeting or stuck in traffic. Plus, as the mother of two teenagers, I know how challenging it is to get teenagers to put the phone down for even a few minutes.

Although I do not want to encourage texting while driving, here are some apps that will make texting while driving safer:

MotoSpeak will read out loud your text messages through the headset as they arrive. When a text message arrives, the Bluetooth device will read it aloud and ask if the user wants to dictate a reply, no screen-touching required.

Otter is a simple, GPS based texting auto reply app. Otter is able to halt text messages, and has no recurring monthly charges.

Drive Smart Plus automatically detects when a handset user is driving and sets the phone into driving mode. Once this service is activated, it disables most texting and calling features to the handset while the car is in motion.

iZup has a time-delay feature to account for stop lights, stop signs, and heavy traffic. It also lets you unblock a single application, such as your GPS navigation.

TxTBlocker lets you set up “Safe Zones” to disable or limit functions. For instance, a parent can block a child from sending texts from school or receive a text if the child exceeds a certain speed limit.

ZoomSafer lets you send outbound calls via the one-touch voice dialer and receive inbound calls through hands-free options. A premium plan lets you hear and respond to email by voice.

Vlingo combines voice to text technology with its “intent engine” to help you quickly complete your desired action. Simply speak to your phone or type a command through the ActionBar to get just about anything done while on the go.

With Textecution, if a passenger wants to use the texting features of the phone, the parent who registered the device has to provide permission via text message.

About the Author

Codi David, Mother of Two Teenagers, Driving, GPS Fleet and Fleet Tracking Expert

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