The Textalyzer Will Help Reduce Distracted Driving
Proposed device allows police to track phone use
Thomas R Machnitzki ([email protected])
“Distracted driving is a dangerous activity” sign West Memphis, Arkansas
Recently the increase in technology has had a fatal effect on our roads. Distractions on the roads such as mobile devices, texting and social media have been a major cause for the largest increase in traffic fatalities in the last 50 years. According to the Upfront magazine article “Driven to Distraction,” the number of drivers in the United States using cellphones right now is 660,000. The article also says that the average number of seconds our eyes are off the road while sending a text is five. That may not seem like a long time, but if you are going 55 mph, it takes five seconds to travel the length of a football field. Safe driving requires all of your attention, and even those few seconds can put many people’s safety at risk.
Although 46 states have banned texting and driving, the problem keeps getting worse because it is difficult to enforce these laws. Upfront talks about the Textalyzer, which is “a device that would let police determine at the scene of an accident if a driver was using a phone.” In 90 seconds an officer will be notified “whether anyone has activated a keyboard, or swiped the screen of the device. As an additional privacy protection, the officer doesn’t even need to touch the phone and can use the device on close proximity to it.”
If a driver refuses to submit to this test, it could lead to a suspended license. This is a great idea and could be very beneficial. Texting and driving is a serious crime that most people overlook even though it could cost you or someone else their life. Since it is hard to prove whether or not someone was on their phone, people rarely receive the proper punishment for their actions. However, the Textalyzer could change that. Hopefully, this proposed device can become a possible solution to the distracted driving crisis, making drivers look at the issue more seriously.