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Smartphone apps designed to improve safety or make drivers watch their speed and cut fuel consumption appear to be a quick, easy and, above all, cheap asset because a lot of them are free. They have recently come under fire and been labelled distractions, though (see news story, page 5), and Grainger is not one to argue: "It's a ridiculous idea. You're then encouraging people to look at their phone while they're driving.
"Yes, build it into the car - Volvo has a system where it displays the speed limit on the dash - that's a fantastic idea. But a mobile phone app that says you're accelerating a bit quickly - your natural reaction is to look at whatever's bleeping. You're adding distraction that you don't need. Mobile phone apps to help improve your driving are daft."
On the telephone
It's been said before and there's plenty of legislation surrounding it, but drivers using mobile phones at the wheel is one of the biggest bones of contention at the moment. Most organisations of any merit will have a policy that dictates what staff can and can't do with their phones behind the wheel, but even after an employee has signed his or her life away, there's still no way of guaranteeing that they're not on the mobile for the duration of every journey anyway - hands-free or not.
The issue isn't just with making calls either. Reading and sending text messages at the wheel is an obvious taboo and, given what your average smartphone can do, emails, social media accounts, apps, music and any other available gadgets all have the capacity to become a distraction. Even the most well behaved of drivers may well have succumbed to checking the odd message on the move.
Controlling or stopping that completely is nigh-on impossible. While you can't guarantee that a blanket ban on all phone use during business trips will work, it can be a step in the right direction (see 'Case study: Michelin's blanket phone ban', below), and more organisations are going in for them.
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