As the illustration above from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), car crashes take an enormous toll in this country each year. More than 37,000 people die each year from car crashes, with another 2.3 million suffering injuries. By any measure, this can be viewed as a healthcare crisis. One company is trying to harness consumer electronics to address the problem.
Cellcontrol is a company that provides technology that prevents drivers from texting, messaging, taking pictures, or accessing social media while driving. They have versions for consumers and for companies that have fleets of vehicles. The company now has produced DriveUp, a free app that monitors and reports on your driving habits. It is essentially a “black box recorder” program that runs on an iPhone, and keeps track of braking, accelerating, and speeding. It then reports a score at the end of the trip. The system will also offer suggestions on how you could improve your driving. It can even tell whether you’re the driver or a passenger, and adjusts your score based on your role.
Depending on your score, you may be eligible for discounts from insurance companies that partner with Cellcontrol. You can download the app for free. This will all become moot once our autonomous cars take over the driving duties for us, but in the meantime, this could be a good way to keep tabs on the driving habits of you and your family members.
