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SAFECELLapp Pays You to Drive Safely, Without Texting
A new iPhone and Android app offers cash-equivalent awards at Amazon, Apple and other retailers for driving without texting.
Posted 10/ 25 10 at 10:00 PM | Business Trends, Technology, Business Travel, Legal Issues, Online Business, Logistics & Transportation, Media, Software, Telecommunications, Inventions & Innovations
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A mishmash of studies and statistics in recent years have pointed out that distracted driving is a really bad idea. It can also result in hefty fines in places where it's against the law. It's not just teenagers who can't put down their cell phones -- business travelers also have the constant temptation to tap out a quick message to a colleague or answer the phone when a major client calls. As a result, there are now several apps designed to lock down phones during driving. (See Driving Under the Influence of Texting for a few of the options.) Some of them are fairly costly. Some are complicated. The new SAFECELLapp takes an age old approach to behavior modification: Rewards.SAFECELLapp rewards safe driving not just with a pat on the back or a "good job." Users can actually accumulate cash-equivalent rewards to the tune of $5 per 500 safe driving miles with a $250 yearly cap. The awards can be spent at any one of 300 participating vendors, including Amazon, Apple, Marriott and Cabela's. SAFECELLapp manages this by tapping into your phone's GPS capabilities. The company maintains a database of cell-phone use laws and sends them to your phone so you know which laws apply where you are driving. SAFECELLapp can send off an auto-reply to people who call or text you to let them know you aren't ignoring them -- you're just busy driving at the moment.
SAFECELLapp locks out your phone functions when tracking is on. You can tap a button to place an emergency call or pause or stop the app with a quick finger click. Besides accruing positive points toward rewards, users who violate cell-phone laws along the way get hit with negative points. SAFECELLapp giveth and SAFECELLapp taketh away. Keep in mind that hands-free headsets don't sit well. The app views it as taking a call, even if you have both hands on the wheel.
Business Bent
This app may sound like it would be appealing to teens and families, but it could work just as well in a business environment where you have employees who rack up a lot of road miles every year. While rewards may be the main incentive, SAFECELLapp isn't shy about dishing out a little shame too. The app keeps a log of the user's driving. It notes when the driver doesn't obey traffic laws and instead succumbs to the temptation to text, call or e-mail behind the wheel. Business owners can check out these logs and keep track of which employees are on board with company policies and which are not.
Buy It
SAFECELLapp is a recently launched app available for the iPhone and Android. A BlackBerry version is on the way. You have until Dec. 28 to buy at the $11.99 price and get free lifetime upgrades for the software. After that, the $11.99 is an annual subscription fee.
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Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Why would you offer free ipods and other items and then you read the fine print and it's not free..........the word FREE MEANS FREE...I consider this a bait and switch or a out right SCAM i trusted AOL
linda
This app I have to say sounds interesting. I WOULD BE WILLING to drive and NOT text to make $$!
However HAVING TO PAY for the app subscription doesn't sound too reasonable to me! I'm used to seeing the word FREE and getting things actually for FREE! I've gotten used to not paying for things like apps or magazines or shampoos, toothpaste, etc. I don't know why anyone PAYS for stuff they COULD get FREE? Take the popular SAVECREATIVELY. COM for example, there's a site offering free stuff anyone and everyone all the time. You can get to them through a Google or Bing search.
I guess the writer never read the reviews people wrote on the ap. It DOES NOT WORK and is a pain to use. It seems you lose points for about anythng.
Do you really think it work anyway, come on! The ONLY thing that's going to keep people from texting while driving is EDUCATION! People, especially young people need to SEE what the results can be, just saying it kills wont even be close to working. It's like drinking and driving, ONLY education on that topic worked for people, people SEEING what the real effects can be. ANd just like drinkig and driving, texting and driving will be the same, there will ALWAYS be thoughs who will do it thinking it will never happen to them. The law needs to be exactly as tough on texting as they are on drinking. Hitting people in the pocketbook is also VERY effectinve!
I totally agree, people will not stop texting and my husband alone has a problem with it while in car on business trips. He even gets upset with me that i nag him ALL THE TIME and that's why I drive so he can be a retard with his phone. My 17 yr. old daughter knows if she does it or gets caught, I'll literally take away her license no questions. I guess everyone needs to see an accident happen in plain view to really get the picture!
WELL, #1- You have to be kidding me? You think that's going to stop a Girl/woman from using it?
#2- ONLY WAY TO STOP TEXTING WHILE DRIVING? MAKE IT SO IT DOESN'T WORK IF YOUR MOVING..
#3-oR? IF THEY GET CAUGHT? THEY GET A $500 FINE AND CAN'T HAVE CELL PHONE SERVICE FOR 1 YR..
ALLTHIS STUFF IS GETTING OUT OF HAND.. GIVIN A GIRL/WOMAN A PORT. PHONE YRS AGO WAS THE BEGINING OF A NEW WAY TO KILL THEMSELVES AND OTHERS.. IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN LIMITED NOT TO WORK WHILE MOVING WAY BACK THEN, BUT THEY PAID OFF OUR CONGRESS TO STOP PUSHING THAT HOUSE BILL THRU..
I SEE ACCIDENTS HAPPEN ALL THE TIME FROM TALKING ON THEIR CELL PHONE TO TEXTING ON IT..
IN 2008- 687 KILLED DUE TO USING A CELL PHONE WHILE OPERATING THEIR VEHICLE , AND THIS WAS JUST IN THE STATE OF ILLINOIS ALONE! GUESS HOW MANY INJURED?
3,478. GUESS HOW MANY ACCIDENTS OF JUST VEHICLES DAMAGED? 17,945 REPORTED.!
IMAGINE HOW MANY WILL DIE AND BE INJURED ONCE CHINA HAS THE SAME % OF IT'S POPULATION HAS A CELL PHONE AND A CAR? I SEE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS EVERY YR!
ummmm...do u think only females text/talk on cell phones while driving, or is your implication that males are somehow capable of texting & driving without consequence? u seem to be a bit sexist here...both my 17 yr old daughter and i are responsible, safe drivers who wouldn't risk the lives & property of others just to answer a text...my husband however, has been in not one, but two fender-benders caused by men who just can't stop themselves from acting like social butterflies and twittering while driving...
it's great to be passionate about safe driving...but you are so uneducated/ignorant if you honestly believe that the fairer of the sexes are the only ones who must have their phones attached to their thuimbs...
wow
Who are they kidding? This is just another SCAM by corporate America, they make 600% profit on texting, do you REALLY think they want you to stop?
So this application can distinguish between a driver and a passenger for the purpose of texting? I used to car pool as a passenger and I would spend my time working and that included texts and emails.
What about when I am driving and stopped in traffic for an hour? Hmm? That disqualifies me for the "reward" of 250 a year? Seriously? I don't text while I drive anyway since I usually drive major highways but that doesn't matter, this article is lame
I also want to know about being the passenger. Most of the time my husband is driving and I am the passenger and I mess around on the internet or with email.
This may be a good start but I do not know enough about it to really form an opinion. I would rather see automakers develop the tech to block or interfere with whatever signals are needed to text or call from the driver seat. Having an app that you can cut on or off or simply delete or un-install does not make since to me. My significant other love cannot put her phone down anytime and that includes while driving under any condition.
I think it would be a good idea for everyone to actually go to the website and read about the product before posting. It is an optional app, its not require, and it is for people who are looking to improve their habbits, not for some who wants to text and drive...