I blogged last month about AT&T’s recent ‘Don’t Text and Drive’ campaign, asking where’s the action and innovation to back up their POV. Well it didn’t take long for someone to answer the call and offer up a solution. Good reminder that ‘the future is already here, just not widely distributed’. Here’s the App, and you can read all about it at FastCompany (Click HERE):

Click ‘More’ below to read the original posts:

I came across this powerful documentary produced by AT&T Mobile. It’s very well done and clearly communicates the belief that you should not Text and Drive. While I applaud AT&T for producing and communicating this POV via YouTube — a noble action by itself — it does beg the question, what are you DOING (vs. saying) to stop this madness? Where’s the action to back up this powerful communication?

Of course, it wouldn’t be fair to ask the question without offering a suggestion, so here goes. Most mobile phones are GPS enabled this day, so you can track their location, and more importantly, speed of travel. How about installing a piece of software that makes it impossible to text, email or dial a phone number when your phone is traveling faster than 15 MPH? It reminds me of that playful programme Virgin Mobile ran in Australia — ‘Stop DUI: Dialing Under the Influence’:

Surely if Virgin Mobile can figure out how to block you from dialing or texting after midnight, your programmers should be able to figure out how to render your mobile device inoperable if it’s traveling at an unsafe speed.

So, then, which mobile phone company will be the first to offer this feature? AT&T – do you have the will to back up your beliefs and communication with ACTION? As a parent of a soon-to-be teenage driver and one who pays for my kids texting privileges, I’ll be the first to say that whoever does offer this kind of service will most certainly earn my loyalty.

One Response to “Don’t Text and Drive (Part III) – A Solution!”

1. Bill Clark says: December 13, 2011 at 5:56 am

   I think if someone could come up with a device that could be mandated to all texting devices and equipt all new one to only work while ” NOT IN MOTION ” then it would be no excuse to text while driving because they couldn’t.