Software blocks drivers' phones

Confronted with the problem of cell-phone-talking drivers smashing into things, and each other, states around the country and countries around the world have enacted laws that limit talking while driving.

Some allow talking using hands-free devices, but that doesn't stop the main cause of driver inattention. It turns out it wasn't the actual using of the phone (after all, smokers light tubes of leaves on FIRE near their faces and keep driving) that was causing the crashes. It was the distraction of the actual conversation.

So adding hands-free kits and those odd blinking Bluetooth things in our ears didn't do anything but assure we were never getting another date in this lifetime.

However, a Canadian company has released new software for cell phones that prevents people from making or receiving phone calls (or texting) while their cell phone is traveling at car-like speeds. Aegis Mobility describes the product, which it is calling "DriveAssist," as "advanced call-management technology."

Right now, the software works with Windows Mobile phones and those running Symbian (Nokia and Sony Ericsson) but likely will be ported to nearly all platforms, if it proves popular. No carriers to date have signed on for the service, which won't work until they do. (The software works in conjunction with the phone's global positioning chip that senses the phone is in motion.)

If parents were to buy the software for a teen's phone, for example, the parent can get an e-mail alert if the service were disabled as well, the company said. Companies that would buy the software for employees could get the same alerts.

If the service is turned on, the phone senses that it is moving, and callers to the phone are told the user is driving and asked to leave a message instead. Callers are given an option to break through in a true emergency.

The one problem I see is passengers in moving cars, which probably should be able to receive calls, and passengers in moving vehicles like trains and buses. Under this plan, anyone with this software who is IN a car or moving vehicle but not driving also would not get their calls. Making it too easy to disable won't work, either, or drivers will just shut it off. My requests for information about this to the company were not answered this week, but I am sure there will be a solution to the challenge before it's rolled out.

But buggy or not, this is a great step forward and a good example of technology coming to the fore to think ahead. Things like this, or the "black boxes" you can put in your teen's car to see how fast they are driving, or the parental tracking you can stick on their cell phones, are all very cool and very timely. I am frequently amazed by how technology is stepping up lately to assist in our lives instead of getting in the way.

Pretty soon a solution will be out there for drunken driving, and that will make us all safer on the highway.

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James Derk is owner of CyberDads, a computer repair firm, and tech columnist for Scripps Howard News Service. His e-mail address is jim@cyberdads.com.