Rating: It’s not an app so it works with any mobile phone
According to Telsis, studies by The RAC Foundation; the University of Otago (New Zealand) ; and the Virginia Tech Transport Institute have found that the chances of a crash are even greater than being under the influence of alcohol, if you text whilst driving. To counter this danger, the company has developed DriveSafe which it claims can lessen the temptation many people feel to text while they are behind the wheel. Recently [February 2012], DriveSafe went live in a network for the first time to Vodafone New Zealand’s 2.5 million customers. The service is available free of charge and Telsis says that DriveSafe is the world’s first all-phones service of its kind.
It was introduced by Vodafone just in time for the February long weekend holiday when hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders take to the roads.
Whilst the phone user concentrates on driving safely, DriveSafe automatically replies to any text messages with a short operator-branded reply such as “I’m driving at the moment. I’ll read your text as soon as it is safe to do so.”
“Vodafone DriveSafe is designed to take the pressure off when you’re driving and you get a text message,” said Grant Hopkins, Vodafone’s director of sales.
“It lets the sender know that you can’t reply immediately, without you needing to take your eye off the road,” he added.
Any distraction is dangerous when driving but texting is especially bad because not only is your mind focusing on the message but your eyes are off the road and at least one of your hands isn’t on the wheel, either.
“One of the worst things about texting and driving is that drivers know they shouldn’t do it but in many cases just can’t seem to stop themselves when they hear a message arrive,” explained
the New Zealand Automobile Association’s motoring affairs general manager, Mike Noon.
Vodafone DriveSafe is a simple tool that can help drivers to leave the phone alone.
The driver can relax knowing the person who texted them has been sent a reply and, as a bonus, it is spreading the message that texting and driving are a potentially lethal mix.
In News Zealand Vodafone users simply text ‘DRIVE ON’ to 760 to activate the service. More information here.
“Texting while driving became illegal two years ago but it remains a significant and unwelcome cause of too many crashes,” explained the New Zealand Transport Agency’s CEO, Geoff Dangerfield.
“So it’s great to see Vodafone’s initiative giving people another option to make a safe choice when they are travelling,” he said.
