Textalyzer Aims to Cut Down on Distracted Driving

Textalyzer Aims to Cut Down on Distracted Driving

As my avid blog followers are already aware, I am a Baltimore Chiropractor with two Baltimore Chiropractic clinics. We treat all types of patients with headaches, neck pain, and back pain. A lot of what we’ve been seeing recently are acute whiplash injuries such as cervical sprain/strain injuries and lower back sprain/strain injuries due to Baltimore auto accidents. As I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts I enjoy working with these patients because their injuries typically respond quickly and favorably to our care.

We’ve seen a recent uptick in the number of our Baltimore auto accident injury patients. Many times while taking a patient history we hear something similar. Typically it involves a patient’s vehicle idling at a red light and getting struck from behind in a rear-end collision. Once the facts come out it turns out that the adverse drivers were driving while under the influence of electronics. That is, they were typically talking on their phone, texting, or posting on social media at the time of their crash.

A proposed solution to this problem is the “Textalyzer”. It is a “digial breathalyzer” that can hook up to your phone and determine if you were engaging with your phone just prior to the crash. If the law allows for this technology it would go a long way to helping to identify fault in Baltimore auto accident injuries. It would also go a long way to discourage the use of electronics by drivers.

The manufacturers of the Textalyzer say that it can determine which phone programs were in use, but not what was said or typed. Meaning, it would just have a time stamp of app usage without giving up any sensitive private data. Supposedly the textalyzer can tell the difference between voice command (blue tooth enabled phone prompts for phone calls and text messaging) and hand controlled input, but I think that remains to be seen.

While I like the intent of this technology, I wonder if it goes to far and intrudes on people’s privacy. Plenty of times while I’ve been driving I’ve given my phone to my wife and asked her to call or text someone on my behalf. This machine would indicate that I’ve been texting, but in this case, it wasn’t me. Would that lead to a ticket or a loss of my driver’s license?

What about apps that work in the background? Apps that help with GPS? What about uber and lyft driver’s that need this data to get their passengers between different locations?

All in all I’d like to learn more about the product and have some key questions answered before we see these Textalyzer’s on the road. I think they will likely help cut down on distracted driving, and as a result, we should see a decrease in Baltimore auto accident injuries.

If you, or someone you know, has been injured in a Baltimore auto accident injury, please contact Mid-Atlantic Spinal Rehab & Chiropractic at (443) 842 5500. We would be happy to get you back on the road to recovery!

Dr. Gulitz