Distracted driving is one of the leading causes of accidents and traffic citations on the road today. Whether it be talking on your cell phone, texting, or answering emails, each of these actions takes your eyes off the road and puts you, your vehicle, and other drivers in danger. Luckily, there are several mobile applications to help curb distracted drivers. If you're a SmartPhone user, consider downloading these applications or similar products before embarking on your independent car rental excursion.
Mobile apps have been developed to help curb distracted driving by preventing texts, redirecting calls, sending out auto-responders to emails, and much more. Here are five of the top mobile applications to avoid distracted driving, improving the safety of your next car rental road trip:
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DriveSafe.ly – Imagine driving down the highway in your rental car and having your texts and emails read out loud to you – immediately! This is possible with DriveSafe.ly. This hands-free application can play via Bluetooth or through your radio, and can also send an auto-responder back to the sender informing them you are currently driving. Without taking your eyes off the road, or removing your hands from your car rental wheel, you'll be able to stay connected in real time.
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iZUP – Statistics show that taking cell phone calls or sending out text messages while driving can increase your chances of an accident by more than 20 times. Thankfully, there's iZup. iZup aims to do just what it the title suggests; keep your eyes up and on the road. Detecting that your vehicle is in motion, this mobile application will send calls directly to voice mail, and will hold text messages until your car rental stops. In essence, this application locks your phone while your rental car is in motion.
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Sprint's Drive First Application – Similar to iZUP, this application disables your cell phone screen when it is detected that you are driving. Calls will be redirected to voicemail, your screen will be locked, and text messages will be blocked. Again, auto-responders are an option telling senders that the driver is unavailable. This application however, does allow the user to still access certain components of their SmartPhone, including the GPS and music.
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Cellcontrol – Cellcontrol knows when you're driving. Not only does it work with almost any cell phone, it also has the ability to control laptops and tablets, making it one of the most comprehensive anti-distracted driving mobile applications on the road. While you are driving your car rental, Cellcontrol will restrict almost all aspects of phone use, including texting, emailing, gaming, phone calls, and surfing the Internet. As well, this application only blocks your device while driving a selected vehicle; therefore, if you're a passenger in another car, you'll still be able to use your phone.
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Textecution – If you're moving, your phone will know, and textecution will disable all text messaging capabilities. Using your phones own technology, this application detects when your phone is travelling in excess of 10mph, and locks text messaging abilities.
These mobile devices aren't designed to restrict drivers; rather, they're intended to help keep drivers safe. When you're travelling in a rental car, your eyes should be on the road, and your hands should be on the wheel. These mobile applications look to build on the success of other hands-free and Bluetooth devices.
If you're travelling for business, or you're an avid SmartPhone user, take the required steps to keep yourself, your passengers, and others on the road safe. Distracted driving due to SmartPhone use is quickly becoming one of the leading causes of automobile accidents. In many states and provinces, text messaging, answering emails, or talking on the phone is also illegal. So take a minute to explore your phone, and download one of these affordable or free mobile applications to curb distracted driving today!