Distracted driving apps

I love driving. It is one of those activities in life that can change my mood for the better. To me, there is something soothing about being behind the wheel of my car. All seems right in my world until one of two things eventually happens: I hear my annoying ringtone (it is one of the few sounds that can grab my attention while driving) or I get the initial jolt of awareness that comes as I see somebody driving and holding a phone to their ear. I simply don’t trust anyone on the phone when driving, myself included.

Distracted driving has increasingly become worse as we become more dependent on our phones. The Hands-Free laws that may or may not be effect in your state alone do not stop people from using their mobile devices while driving a vehicle. Nobody likes being away from their phone, but surely most would prefer it to an accident. Here are a couple of apps that can help you cut down on distracted driving.

DriveSafe.ly by iSpeech.org for Android, iPhone, Blackberry and Windows Mobile DriveSafe.ly reads text messages or emails sent to you thanks to Text to Speech technology. DriveSafe.ly is very simple to set up for your phone. It literally took me a minute. How this works is once you reach a certain speed, it realizes you are driving and kicks into action. Once the app is on, it will read your text messages aloud and send an optional response back. The auto-reply message is completely customizable as well. It’s a very cool app that everyone should have if they are big into texting.

ZoomSafer by ZoomSafer Inc. for Blackberry and Windows Mobile ZoomSafer is another great tool to keep your eyes on the road. ZoomSafer is much like DriveSafe.ly in that it is turned on when you start to drive. Where it differs is that it actually can block all incoming texts and emails. It can still send a response to note that you are driving and will get back as soon as you can. It’s designed to work with Bluetooth headsets to comply with state cell phone laws too, so no worries when it comes to making calls while the App is running. Through the ZoomSafer website you can change some settings around to not receive any calls, receive calls but only from your priority call list, or to receive all calls.

Carrr Matey by Carrr Matey for Android While this might not be an App to help keep your focus while driving, it will absolutely help you keep your sanity before you step into your vehicle. Carrr Matey helps you navigate to your car’s location in a big parking lot, gives you walking directions to it and even has a timer so you won’t have to worry about getting a ticket for parking meter spaces. So yeah, no more wandering around parking lots aimlessly. Also, sorry for not having a pirate-themed pun.