Distracted Driving Laws, Meet Safe Driving Cell Phone Apps

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After writing about the progress of the Washington state Senate bill that would make cell phone use while driving a primary offense (and a $124 ticket), I got an email from the people behind PhonEnforcer, an app that simply turns your phone off when you're driving. When you've stopped, you can turn it back on.

The bill passed in the Senate (33-15), by the way, and is now in front of the House transportation committee. But Chris Morgan with PhonEnforcer makes a good point about whether a law alone will get the job done. Down in Torrance, CA, a "cell phone sting" brought in 41 distracted drivers in just over an hour. So that's a significant amount of behavior to change by writing tickets. People, after all, still speed.

PhonEnforcer ($14.99) is one of a growing number of cell phone applications that respond to customer demand for safer driving--many aimed at parents who want to make sure teens don't multitask their way through the windshield. PhonEnforcer notifies the app's "manager" if someone tries to change the settings. There's also ZoomSafer ($2.99/mo.), TXTBlocker ($9.99/mo.), cellcontrol (price n/a), and DriveSafe.ly (Pro: $13.95), to name just a few.

Some solutions use GPS to determine car speed (PhonEnforcer can be set to shut your phone off at as little as five miles per hour, preventing biking- and jogging-while-texting as well), some interface with your car's onboard computer, and some don't shut off, but let you hear and speak text and email messages, rather than read and key them. Some provide single-phone licenses, some can handle a whole fleet (liability for distracted commercial drivers is an increasing concern).

I asked Chris whether any cell phone companies had reached out to discuss making an anti-distracted driving app a standard feature on their phones. He said not yet, though they were talking with insurance companies about safe driver discounts. Also, in the case of someone who gets a distracted driving ticket, a condition of their "rehabilitation" could be a cell phone app.

Which brings me back to that distracted driving bill. Given the technology that exists, wouldn't it be more effective to require cell phones to come with these features to begin with, just like cars come with seat belts? Or is that too Nanny State?