Preventing Texting While Driving–iPhone Still Searches For An Answer

By: Zachary Harmuth

Texting while driving causes more accidents and more danger for other drivers than drinking and driving, according to the National Highway Safety Administration.

In fact, the NHSA says it is six times more dangerous, and it causes 3,000 teen deaths and 330,000 injuries per year now. This compares to 2,700 teen deaths per year from drinking and driving.

With the release of the new version of the iPhone, texting while driving is top of mind for many people. Apple still has not allowed certain apps that prevent texting while driving, which are available on Android and other smart phones–his is because Apple restricts what apps are available whereas Android does not.

The reason for the restriction is that Apple apps must be vetted and approved by Apple to prevent possible viruses and to ensure quality and compliance to the aesthetic the company wants to present in its operating system.

Apple currently offers Siri, a hands free way of a texting, to prevent texting while driving. However, a recent study by Texas A & M shows that using the hands free Siri is just as dangerous as actually texting while driving.

Android and other smart phones without the restriction on apps have various apps that limit the ability of drivers to text behind the wheel. Users can set the phone to reply automatically with a message saying that the person is driving and will respond later. However, this app has to be turned on or activated when the person goes behind the wheel, otherwise it would not allow texting on buses or by passengers in a car.

App or no app, there is still no absolute way to prevent texting while driving, just as there is no absolute way to prevent drinking and driving. That is, of course, other than banning cell phones all together (or alcohol).

Though Tennessee is one of the 42 states to currently have laws which ban texting while driving (just like all states ban drinking while driving), it still continues to cause accidents and take lives.

In the end, the real solution is that maybe there is no real solution. Therefore, using good judgment and educating drivers and especially teen drivers of the dangers of texting while driving, seem to be the best courses of action.