Distracted Driving Solution: Top 5 Mobile Web Applications to Effectively Mitigate Distracted Driving Risks

Hello, my name is Erick J. Hoyer. As the newest member of the CW team, I want to use this opportunity to introduce myself. I have been in business for 10 years now, and in the past, I have focused on Automobile Fleet programs. In the past 2 years, I have focused on all commercial insurance and risk management. I came to Cravens Warren to continue that focus. I’m hopeful for the opportunity to meet many of you in person, but until then I hope you will enjoy my contributions to our monthly newsletter.

As I am sure you noticed the month of April was national Distracted Driving Month. What’s that- you didn’t know? For those of you who were too busy to adopt new driving policies in April, my focus this month is all about “Distracted Driving.” We all know what distracted driving is. More than likely on your way into the office this morning you listened to the radio, checked your email, texted your spouse, and maybe even talked to your business partner. (Stop reading this article if you are behind the wheel) Sounds like a normal commute? “What is so wrong with that?” you might ask. “I am a great at multitasking!” While I have no doubt you all wear many hats throughout your work day, and therefore are excellent multitaskers, I do doubt that in your daily work you actually hold the lives of others in your busy thumbs? “At any given moment during daylight hours, 672,000 cars are being driven by individuals using hand-held cell phones” (NHTSA)

As a business owner, if you could limit the exposure to a specific risk you would- correct? We all know the answer to that question, yet we refuse to do anything about distracted driving. With my personal background coming from the fleet management industry, I can assure you that your drivers are extremely distracted and that poses an incredible risk to your organization. We here at CW want to help lower your exposure to risk. With that goal in mind, I bring to you Five Cell Phone Apps that will greatly improve your safety, and the safety of those who share the road:

	1) Text No More - It’s Free! - Driver chooses when to block calls and texts - With Bluetooth calls will still come through - Local merchant deals are rewards for activating the program - Amber Alerts (socially responsible app)
	2) Drive Safe.ly - It will cost you $13.95/year - Reads your texts and email out loud - Auto respond function for text messages - Runs off of iSpeech technology which won About.com Readers’ Choice award
	3) ZoomSafer - $3/month - GPS detects when car is moving and blocks texts & calls - Automatically replies to sender that driver will respond later - Teen Safer will alert parents when car reaches destination - Fleet Safer enables companies to restrict distractions for multiple vehicles
	4) Sprint Drive First - $2/month - Sends incoming calls to voice-mail - Auto responds to text messages - Safety apps are allowed to be used, like GPS - Business owners/admins have power to set phone controls
	5) Safe Cell App (This one is our favorite) - $11.99 per year - Records driving habits; safe drivers earn points, redeemable at retailers across the country- rewards your good driving habits - iPhone and Android Compatible - Pushes laws based on GPS location - Reporting Capabilities - Continuous Visual Advisory (CVA) - Web based trip tracking (Trip Tracker) - National Regulation Repository - Best of All- this product has been developed by local Houston Entrepreneurs, and was developed by local digital agency ChaiONE
	If these apps have sparked your interest please reach out to me or your CW representative and discuss the other options available to help reduce the risk exposures from “Distracted Driving.” Remember- Talk/Text/Crash (TxDot)