Mobile Apps Can Help Cut Down on Distracted Driving and Baltimore Auto Accident Injuries

Mobile Apps Can Help Cut Down on Distracted Driving and Baltimore Auto Accident Injuries

As a Baltimore Chiropractor that spends the majority of my clinic time treating patients injured in Baltimore auto accidents I treat many patients with headaches, neck pain, and back pain. Largely these injuries can be avoided if motorists are more responsible on the road. That is, if they focused on what they learned in driver’s education classes and obeyed “the rules of the road” we would see fewer Baltimore auto accidents due to human error. One of the leading causes of auto accidents in Baltimore and in other cities is human error due to distracted driving. We’ve all been at a red light and seen drivers alongside us glance down at their laps with a faint glow of cell phone shining into their faces. Sure, they are only looking at their phones at a light. But maybe they’ve been texting back and forth as they drive? It’s been noted that the average back and forth text message communication takes about five seconds of focus. A driver with their eyes off the road for five seconds can travel several hundred feet – certainly a long enough distance to injure or kill another vehicle operator and/or their respective passengers.

Fortunately for those of us that want to keep our distractions to a minimum on the road, several companies have begun to develop mobile apps that limit, or in some cases, completely eliminate distracted driving by either rewarding distraction-free driving or by completely disabling mobile communication while a car is in motion. While I think its a pretty sad state of affairs that we NEED these apps to be created, I think that these are good solutions to the growing problem of distracted driving. Personally, I choose to turn my phone off while I’m driving or to pass it to a passenger who can communicate for me when I drive, but having mobile apps is a step in the right direction.

In order to choose the best mobile app for your needs there are a few questions you may want to ask yourself. Is the app compatible with your mobile phone (i.e. android or iOS)? Does the application have the ability to block messages or phone calls from coming in or going out while driving? Does the app have the ability to track the number of safe miles you’ve driven? Can you set the app up to notify parents of the driving pattern of teenagers? Depending on what you are looking for there are apps that can do all of these things. In no particular order here are a few available apps that can be downloaded to help limit the amount of distracted driving that you do in Baltimore:

1) Drive Beehive – This app is geared towards young drivers. It can track the number of safe miles driven and can send parents notifications about driving patterns of teens. It also rewards safe driving behavior. It connects the driver with sponsors such as friends and family that can pledge rewards for reaching milestones of safe miles driven.

2) Drive Alive – Similar to Drive beehive it can track safe miles driven and it can send parents notifications about teen driving habits. The Drive Alive app helps to log the number of safe driving hours that you can accumulate and it enters these hours into a lottery where drivers can win cash and other prizes.

3) AT&T DriveMode – This app effectively blocks all incoming and outgoing phone calls and texts while driving. The app can set to “turn on” these features when the car drives above 15 mph. This app can also alert parents when the teenage user has disabled or tampered with the app.

Personally, I don’t use any of these applications on my phone because I am diligent about making sure that my eyes and focus are on the road in front of me. With that being said, it seems like these apps, either individually or collectively can help us keep our eyes on the road, and can help us each do our part to cut down on car accident related injuries in Baltimore. So if you can not delegate communication to another passenger while you are driving, please consider downloading one of these apps in order to help cut down on the number of unnecessary Baltimore auto accident injuries.

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

Dr. Gulitz