Canada: Smartphone App To Block Calls and SMS While Driving from Bikes in the Fast Lane

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Canada: Smartphone App To Block Calls and SMS While Driving

October
2012

  File under Ideas Safety
  Author: Mike Werner
  Location: Normandy, France

Texting and making phone calls while driving is very dangerous. Dangerous for you, but then you control it so if something happens to you, you've got yourself to blame, but it's also very dangerous for others.

Reading that all important text from your BFF saying "LOL", entering that one letter in the SMS, or looking up a phone number to call, all while driving, means that you are not paying attention to the road and traffic. And that is when cars crash into motorcycles.

The Quebec government in Canada have gone one step further to prevent people from doing it. They've developed a smartphone app (currently for Android only) called "Mode Conduite

" that will block SMS/text (receiving and sending) and incoming phone calls while driving.

It's not a simple button you push to say stop SMS and incoming calls. No... that would be too simple, since all you need to currently do is turn on the "Airplane Mode" on your smartphone for that. Nope, this app allows you to define the days and times you'll be driving, i.e., when you have a daily commute, just enter the days and times you'll be in the car, and the app shuts down SMS/texting and incoming calls. Of course you can do it without programming the days and times. Just switch the app on.

You can even define automatic responses to incoming SMS and calls, something like "I can't come to the phone right now, I'm driving" or 'Do not worry honey, I'll pick up the bread and milk". When you arrive safely at your destination, you can see who called, and who sent you text messages. For a fun fact, it'll show you how long you've been without texting or calling, and if you're proud of it, it's a stat you can post on Facebook.

The Android app is free, but on the downside, it's in French only. But don't do like one of the reviewers did and forget to turn off the app. He was wondering why he hadn't received any calls or messages for 3 days...

Click here to download the 'Mode Conduite" app