iPhone app keeps driver’s eyes up
Well, the grace period is over and the distracted driving law has finally come into effect. Have you stopped talking on your cell phone while you’re driving? Switching songs on your iPod? How about texting?
If you haven’t, and you get caught, you’ll now be liable for a fine that can range from $155 to $500.
If an officer catches you using a hand-held device on the highway you won’t pick up any demerit points, but you could still be charged under other careless driving laws. In this respect, Ontario laws are more lenient than those in?B.C., where besides a minimum $167 fine drivers could also be assessed three demerit points on their licences.
Emergency or 911 calls are exempt from the law, as are hands-free devices and dashboard-mounted GPS navigational devices, leaving some feeling that the law hasn’t gone far enough. Eyes on the road and hands on the wheel are good they say, but someone using a GPS and arguing on their Bluetooth might not have their mind on the road.
Well, I’m glad there are exceptions, as I wouldn’t be in favour of my cab driver having to find a safe place to pull over every time he got a call from his dispatcher during my fare.
But all that doesn’t address one thing; drivers, especially young drivers who can’t really afford the distraction, who insist on texting while they drive.
Yes, I have done it too, and I realize that each time I have done it I’ve taken my life and the lives of my passengers in between my thumbs. I knew it was a risky move, but I guess I was just too wrapped up in the convenience of it all.
You never saw a stagecoach driver writing a postcard while he held the reins for the six horses charging madly ahead of him between his teeth, or clamped under his armpit. Then again, maybe it did happen, once or twice, but no one was left to tell the tale.
Of course, sending a postcard isn’t as easy as hitting send on your cell.
A new iPhone application, called iZup, introduced last October, aims to stop driver texting and keep the eyes of drivers up — get it?
According to the Web site of the app designer, illume software, the app costs users $5 a month, or $50 a year. Using iPhone  GPS technology, the app senses when it is travelling five miles per hour and locks out the use of the phone for all but emergency numbers, preventing the user from reading or sending texts. Most applications, excluding Google Maps, are also locked out.
I’m all in favour of this as it eliminates the temptation to text while driving altogether. In fact, I think the next step is to make this technology standard for all phones, complete with an automatically generated message sent to the person trying to text the driver: “I’m driving. Try sending me a postcard.”