New way to stop motorists using their phones

New software can detect whether or not you’re using your mobile phone in your car, and will ask the mobile network to hold all your calls and messages until you stop driving.

A Canadian company has developed software that will detect the speed that a cell phone is moving.

If the software thinks the phone is moving at a speed similar to being in a moving car then the program notifies the relevant mobile phone network, suggesting that all calls and messages are withheld until the mobile phone is no longer in transit.

Anyone trying to call the person driving will hear a message telling them as such, but they can leave an emergency voice mail which will put them through immediately.

The software comes as a bonus to legislators as attempts to curb mobile phone related car accidents worldwide have been met with minimal success. A study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 2006 found that dialing or talking on the phone was the cause in 7 percent of crashes and near-crashes. For the study, drivers had onboard “black boxes” that recorded their actions.

Studies in Australia and overseas have shown that people on their mobile phones are four times as likely to have an accident. Senior Sergeant Peter Jenkins of the NSW Crash Investigation Unit said that mobile phones are now the number one suspect in crashes involving inattention.

Recently the California Public Utilities Commission banned texting on the job after a train engineer was sending messages from his phone which led to a deadly collision with a freight train, killing 25 and injuring over 130.

Sources: CNN Technology, CNN News, Webdiary

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