The National Safety Commission Alerts

Safety is No Accident. Visit the National Safety Commission - America's Safety Headquarters for driver safety information, auto recalls and teen safe driver tips.

Thursday, January 08, 2009

New Technology Disables Texting Features While Driving

Software Aims to Curb Teens’ Biggest Driving Distraction

Textecution is a new cell phone application that prevents the user from texting while driving by completely disabling the text feature while the car is in motion. Targeted at texting teens, it taps the Google G1's Global Positioning System (GPS), and if a teen driver is traveling more than 10MPH, it prevents text messaging. To get permission to text when driving - or being a passenger – the device will call an administrator number (i.e. their parents) to temporarily bypass the block.

National statistics prove that drivers who are text while operating their vehicle cause a substantial increase in vehicle accidents. According to Students Against Destructive Decisions and Liberty Mutual Insurance Group, instant and text messaging while driving leads the list as the biggest distraction while driving. Texting while driving now rivals driving and drinking in terms of danger and prevalence. Nearly 50 percent of teens admit to text messaging while driving.

Textecution was created to decrease the number of accidents that are caused by drivers who are reckless or distracted because they are reading or typing text messages while operating their vehicle.

Textecution has developed an override function into the application. For example, if a passenger wishes to text while the car is in motion, he or she must choose the "Request Permission" option, and a text message will be sent to the administrator (i.e. parents) who installed Textecution on the mobile device. If the administrator or parent responds "Allow," the texting feature will become available again for a designated period of time.

Textecution is available for a one-time fee of $9.95. For more information, visit www.textecution.com.

Is your teen a safe driver? The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration has developed a new Teen Injury Prevention course to emphasize driving safety for teenagers. For more information, including a Driver Education a Driver Education Book for Parents, visit http://www.safedriver.com/.

Labels: , , ,


© 2011 All rights reserved.
The National Safety Commission, Inc.
PO Box 3359
Ponte Vedra Beach, FL 32004-3359

AddThis Feed Button