How many times has this happened to you? You are sitting behind a car at a light waiting for the car to go when the light turns green only to miss the light because the driver is distracted reading their email or texting? Or, even worse, watching a car swerving in and out of lanes while the driver frantically texts themselves into an accident?
In many states there are laws on the books to curb your use of your cellphone while driving, and many more states are enacting legislation each month to make texting and emailing on your cell phone while driving illegal. The goal of the legislation iskeep you stay safe and focused on the road, but many of us still text or email while driving causing millions of avoidable car accidents each year.
A new application, DriveSafe.ly, aims to keep you focused while driving by automatically reading your email and text messages when they arrive on your mobile device. There are two version of DriveSafe.ly; a free light weight version that reads you your email and text messages in real-time, and a paid version that adds to the capabilities of the free version by allowing you to answer your messages with just your voice – hands free – converting your voice to text and sending it out.
Today, DriveSafe.ly is supported on Blackberry and Android devices and work is underway to support iPhones and Palm platforms.
Setup is a breeze and I have been using the App for a few weeks on my Blackberry and must say that I am impressed with how simple it is to use – it even seamlessly integrates with my Blue-tooth in car system and mutes the radio and reads my messages aloud over the car’s stereo when a new message arrives.
Check out DriveSafe.ly at http://www.drivesafe.ly/
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What you need is discipline, not app. The app help just a little, but you still have to fiddle with your phone to start/stop the app, which defeats its purpose.
I bought the pro version of this and now cant get it to download on my phone…..I’m such a computer/phone illiterate dummy…..oh well it was only $13.95, thank goodness!
You can download the free version and enter the code somewhere in the settings section.
I wonder if it will help when I am walking around NYC and get email and want to respond without digging out the iPhone.
Guess I’ll have to wait for the iPhone version to come out.
So why have the app at all, just talk to the other person using the hands free phone, duh.
This app has been the “work is underway to support iPhones and Palm platforms”. forever. A few weeks ago they said, on their Facebook page,that it would be out in three weeks. That would be on Jan. 9, We’ll see.
There isn’t anyone out there on the front lines of the texting while driving issue that thinks that any Speech to Text software is anything other that just another form of texting while driving. Still fumbling with technology instead of focusing on the 5,000 pounds of steel and glass they sitting in. According to the Governors Highway Safety Association website, there is no indication that hands-free use is any safer than handheld.
Why would any individual or corporation think that that Speech to Text would cover their liability? If anything it may be the cause of an accident instead of what prevented it!
As a father I cannot see how Speech to Text is anything other than another way to text and drive and potentially as dangerous.
However, I am clearly no longer objective on this issue as I decided to do something about it after my three year old daughter was nearly run down right in front of me by a texting driver last fall. Instead of software that further distracts the user (especially teens), I built a tool that is a simple, GPS based texting auto reply app called OTTER for smartphones. It also silences distracting call ringtones unless you have a bluetooth enabled. OTTER is an easy way to manage that text and drive temptation and get the driver’s eyes back on the road where they belong.
Erik Wood, owner
OTTER LLC
OTTER app
I’ve been watching OTTER for months now in hopes of an iPhone version. Any word if it’s getting closer?
Thanks for the note, Slapster. I would love to have already built this for you but the iPhone operating system does not allow 3rd party apps like ours to run freely on their system. Specifically I need to be able to know when a text is being received and I need to be able to access the notification alerts for the phone. We think the day that Apple allows this is not far away. We like their product and can’t wait to develop OTTER for Apple. We are on Android, Blackberry and, by the end of the month, all Nokia (Symbian) smartphones.
In the meantime, if you would like to let Apple know about us, here is a link where you can do that:
http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.htm
Feel free to give them my name, email and our website address. Thanks again for the note.
Best,
Erik Wood, owner
OTTER LLC
OTTERapp.com