You know you’ve done it before! You’re as guilty as the next monkey of putting the phone down right before the cop that pops out of nowhere catches the reckless act. If you own a mobile device and you drive, chances are you have sent text messages while driving.
State Farm Android Application "On The Move"
To “curve” the urge to text while driving, State Farm developed an Android application called “On The Move” that automatically replies to text messages while you drive.
There are a few applications out there like True SMS-Life Saver that have a pre-defined template that you send once you pull off to the side of the road. There are others that kill your SMS abilities once you travel faster than 10MPH. What separates State Farm’s On The Move application from the rest is that it replies to text messages automatically with a default or customized text message and its FREE. All you have to do is turn it on before you hit the road and let it work its magic. You may also use it during meetings, at the movies or even as an excuse not to reply to your annoying friends. The possibilities are endless!
State Farm® Launches Insurance Industry’s First Free Mobile Tool to Combat Distracted Driving
The service is the latest addition to the State Farm suite of mobile tools, which includes Steer Clear™, mobile banking, and Pocket Agent™.
It will be available on August 23rd via the Android Market. “On the Move” is compatible with Android OS 1.5 and higher. Upon updating State Farm Pocket Agent™, Android users will be able to access “On the Move” through a widget available on smartphone home screens.
The service is not available at this time on BlackBerry, Windows Mobile phone or iPhones but the State Farm development team is currently evaluating options beyond the Android offering.
I could give you tons reasons and examples like the NSC estimate of 1.6 million crashes that are caused each year by people using cellphones to talk and text. Or the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute study that shows evidence of texting while driving increases chances of a collision up to 20 times compared with those who are not. Texting could even be more dangerous than driving under the influence! I’m not sure about that one, they’re probably equally as dangerous. Whatever the case study or examples its stupid to do so due to the risk factor so just pull off the road somewhere or just wait until you arrive at your destination. You don’t want to run over Johnny the bicycle guy just because you took your eyes off the road for a second.
Helpful? This might prompt the religious nutjobs to speed up the process!
The old adage: “If I had a dime for every time I almost got in a wreck due to someone on their phone” needs to be amended to include texting. This happens way more often than I’d like it to. There have been at least a dozen times where a person yapping away on their phone has ALMOST collided with my car. I reprimand them by shaking my head at them or giving them the finger, depends on which mood I’m in. Now we all have to worry about one more human-induced hazard. Texting while driving!
Thumbs up to State Farm Insurance for proactively proving the free Android application available free for download through Android Market, now they just need to develop one for the most popular device of all the iPhone. Surely other insurance carries will should follow suit by providing similar applications.
Safe defensive driving.
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As you may know, Virginia is the only state that bans the use and sale of detectors. There is no evidence that the detector ban increases highway safety. Our nation’s fatality rates have fallen consistently for almost two decades. Virginia’s fatality rate has also fallen, but not any more dramatically than it has nationwide. Research has even shown that radar detector owners have a lower accident rate than motorists who do not own a detector.
Maintaining the ban is not in the best interest of Virginians or visitors to the state. I know and know of people that will not drive in Virginia due to this ban. Unjust enforcement practices are not unheard of, and radar detectors can keep safe motorists from being exploited by abusive speed traps. Likewise, the ban has a negative impact on Virginia’s business community. Electronic distributors lose business to neighboring states and Virginia misses out on valuable sales tax revenue.
Radar detector bans do not work. Research and experience show that radar detector bans do not result in lower accident rates, improved speed-limit compliance or reduce auto insurance expenditures.
• The Virginia radar detector ban is difficult and expensive to enforce. The Virginia ban diverts precious law enforcement resources from more important duties.
• Radar detectors are legal in the rest of the nation, in all 49 other states. In fact, the first state to test a radar detector ban, Connecticut, repealed the law – it ruled the law was ineffective and unfair. It is time for our Virginia to join the rest of the nation.
• It has never been shown that radar detectors cause accidents or even encourage motorists to drive faster than they would otherwise. The Yankelovich – Clancy – Shulman Radar Detector Study conducted in 1987, showed that radar detector users drove an average of 34% further between accidents (233,933 miles versus 174,554 miles) than non radar detector users. The study also showed that they have much higher seat belt use compliance. If drivers with radar detectors have fewer accidents, it follows that they have reduced insurance costs – it is counterproductive to ban radar detectors.
• In a similar study performed in Great Britain by MORI in 2001 the summary reports that “Users (of radar detectors) appear to travel 50% further between accidents than non-users. In this survey the users interviewed traveling on average 217,353 miles between accidents compared to 143,401 miles between accidents of those non-users randomly drawn from the general public.” The MORI study also reported “Three quarters agree, perhaps unsurprisingly, that since purchasing a radar detector they have become more conscious about keeping to the speed limit…” and “Three in five detector users claim to have become a safer driver since purchasing a detector.”
• Modern radar detectors play a significant role in preventing accidents and laying the technology foundation for the Safety Warning System® (SWS). Radar detectors with SWS alert motorists to oncoming emergency vehicles, potential road hazards, and unusual traffic conditions. There are more than 10 million radar detectors with SWS in use nationwide. The federal government has earmarked $2.1 million for further study of the SWS over a three-year period of time. The U.S. Department of Transportation is administering grants to state and local governments to purchase the SWS system and study its effectiveness (for example, in the form of SWS transmitters for school buses and emergency vehicles). The drivers of Virginia deserve the right to the important safety benefits that SWS delivers.
Please sign this petition and help to repeal this ban and give drivers in Virginia the freedom to know if they are under surveillance and to use their property legally:
http://www.stoptheban.org
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/repeal-the-virginia-radar-detector-ban
Alright, this really doesn’t have anything to do with the article. But its good to know I suppose.
Is it illegal to give the finger to someone while driving in Virginia?