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A new driver distraction app has been launched. This one is designed to remove all temptation for a driver to use their phone and consists of a solar-powered device that is fixed to the windscreen behind the rear-view mirror and an app that is loaded onto the phone and a web-based administration console.
Wouldn't it be simpler to put your phone in the boot?
Forgive me for being cynical, but if the aim is to reduce the distraction to drivers, surely fitting a device onto their windscreen, loading yet another App onto the phone, and having a number of web-based settings to apply controls will only serve the purpose of focusing drivers even more on their phone rather than learning to put it away.
Using a mobile phone, even hands free, is extremely dangerous. The Department for Transport estimates that as many as half a million people a year are still using their mobiles while at the wheel and it is an increasingly contributory factor in accidents. The latest figures show a 29 per cent rise in accidents caused by drivers making calls or texting from 349 in 2010 to 492 last year.
Why do we feel that fighting fire with fire is the best solution to this problem? Do we really need more Apps on our phones to stop us using our phones? No. In my mind this is as insane as giving every member of the public a dangerous dog to protect themselves against other dangerous dogs!
Surely the solution is to work hard to remove the risk, enforce company-wide bans on any mobile phone usage while driving and educate drivers so that it becomes as socially unacceptable to make or receive a call when driving as it is to light a cigarette in the office! What we don't need is more gizmos and gadgets that draw even greater focus to the one thing we're desperate for drivers not to go near when driving.
But where is the national education? Where are the campaigns to stop drivers using their phone while driving? And where are there signs of the law changing into a blanket ban on any mobile phone use by drivers, even when hands-free?
The fact is, none of these things are on the horizon, which is why the corporate sector has to take the lead.
So if you are a fleet manager, think carefully about your strategy to eliminate mobile phone use. Because the way some solutions are heading at the moment could just make matters worse.
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