Sprint has dialed up an Android app whose mission is to halt distracted driving behaviors before they begin. "Drive First" will be installed on all future Sprint Andriod phones, but subscribers must pay an additional $2 a month to engage the app. Owners of Android phones don't need to upgrade as they'll be able to download the app once the service launches, sometime in the third quarter, Sprint says. The app engages GPS to determine when a cell phone is in a moving vehicle. Incoming calls are sent to voice mail while texts trigger auto-response messages. It also blocks all but three of the … [Read more...]
‘Zits’ all thumbs with texting comic
March 23, 2011 by Leave a Comment
The newspaper comic strip "Zits" is dedicating the week to the dangers of distracted driving. You can view the strips on the "Zits" web site if you hurry. The comic, written by Jerry Scott and illustrated by Jim Borgman, follows teenager Jeremy Duncan and his pals as they navigate the path to adulthood. Jeremy, typically, is struggling with the concept that you can't text and drive at the same time. But so is someone else ... "Zits" appears in more than 1,500 newspapers. … [Read more...]
‘If Lives Are in Your Hands … ‘
March 16, 2011 by 1 Comment
What if your surgeon decided to do a little text messaging while you're there on the operating table? That's the (rhetorical) question posed by short-filmmaker David McDonald, recently honored for the safety PSA video below. McDonald, 24, won $7,800 (CAN) worth of filmmaking tools in the distracted driving category of a short-film contest sponsored by the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia. "I looked at texting and driving and what that really is -- it is a dangerous thing operating a heavy vehicle that could kill," McDonald told the Westminster News Leader on March 16. … [Read more...]
Teen license act to ban talking & texting
March 10, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Federal lawmakers have renewed their campaign for a nationwide standard for graduated driver licensing that would outlaw use of cell phones and text messaging for the young motorists. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Rep. Tim Bishop, D-N.Y., reintroduced the Safe Teen And Novice Driver Uniform Protection Act (STANDUP Act) this week. Parents who lost teens in traffic accidents joined with safety and insurance groups Tuesday on Capitol Hill to show their support for the act, previously introduced in 2009 and 2010. It failed to become law in the previous Congress. A day earlier, the … [Read more...]
Sen. Allan Kittleman, class clown
March 4, 2011 by 2 Comments
When Maryland legislators approved a texting and driving bill last year, they screwed up. The law banned writing and sending of text messages while driving, but not the reading of texts. Drivers also were free to text away at red lights, with their motors running and transmissions in drive. The well-intentioned legislators behind the Maryland texting law struggled with proper wording of a texting and driving bill, as have many other lawmakers nationwide. You'd think legislation designed to close these loopholes would sail through the General Assembly, but not this year. Meet state Sen. … [Read more...]
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