FocusDriven: Raising Awareness About Distracted Driving

FocusDriven is a national nonprofit organization created by US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and the National Safety Council to address the issue of distracted driving. People who talk or text on their cell phone while driving are considered distracted drivers. Distracted drivers can create dangerous situations on the road and have caused an increase in fatal car crashes. The formation of FocusDriven was formally announced last Tuesday.

The mission of FocusDriven is to advocate for victims of motor vehicle crashes caused by people using their cell phone while driving, and also to increase public awareness about the dangers of cell phone use while driving. Increased public awareness could help advance public policies to address distracted driving as well as ultimately lead to the group’s ability to expand their mission to include educational components and technology solutions.

Results of a public opinion poll conducted by Nationwide Insurance show 81% of the public admitting to talking on a cell phone while driving. This statistic, as well as other important information, can be found at FocusDriven’s website.

Additional information can be found at the Department of Transportation’s website on distracted driving.

Learn more about an example of technology aimed at helping individuals avoid the temptation to talk or text while driving--and also aimed at helping businesses enforce policies against distracted driving--at the ZoomSafer website.

The Life-Saving Potential of Technology

A few weeks ago, we were introduced to a new product that is getting some very well deserved media attention. The product is called Zoomsafer, and it's a mobile phone application that works to prevent (or at least discourage) texting and e-mailing while driving. The application installs on your mobile phone, where it detects motion. At this point, it automatically enables a message that will let your callers know that you are driving and temporarily prevents you from texting or e-mailing. The application can even update a user's Facebook and Twitter status.

Why is that important? Consider this: According to a 2006 study by NHTSA and Virgina Tech Transporation Institute: in 80% of crashes and in 65% of near crashes, the driver was distracted within three seconds of the incident. The leading cause of that distraction? Cell phones.

Links to that study and other NHTSA-funded research on driver distraction and fatigue are available here.

And if you're still not convinced that cell phone use (even hands-free) is dangerous, take a look at this article from the New York Times.

Given the size and scope of this problem, which certainly doesn't seem to have gotten better since 2006, Zoomsafer is very exciting piece of technology.

A product demo is available here, and you can see Zoomsafer's CEO Michael Riemer on Fox Business News here.

This is exciting stuff, and at MSC we're excitedly awaiting the release for Windows Mobile.