Sprint Drive First and Driver Safety - Dec. 25, 2012:

Joining the fight to reduce vehicle crashes, Sprint provides an Android app to keep your focus on driving. It's called Sprint Drive First and promotes traffic safety. This driving safety Android application can be found at focusondriving.sprint.com. What Sprint Drive First is that it implements driver safety by locking your Android smartphone as soon as your car travels at 10 mph to higher speeds. Calls are sent to voicemail and alerts are silenced. Increase driver safety by not texting or taking your eyes off the road to make a call. Sprint Drive First is free for 15 days and costs $2 a month after the free trial period.

More apps that assist you in staying alert behind the wheel include cellcontrol, DriveAssist Guardian, DriveSafe.ly (reads out texts), FleetSafer, Global Mobile Alert-ACTIVATE IT, Textecution (disables texting with options to disable Instant Messaging, email and web), Vlingo (uses your voice to perform tasks while you drive), iZup and Velociti.

Distracted driving has become as much a problem as impaired driving and speeding. Teen drivers and mature drivers are two age groups that have the most vehicle crashes. There are many things one can do to help. You can take online courses that provide information to keep you safe. AARP has classroom and online driver safety courses. You can also volunteer to teach and promote for them.

The NYSP, New York Safety Program's Driver Improvement Course teaches driving safety through "behavior modification methodology." Those who enroll learn about defensive driving, driver responsibilities, traffic laws and emergency protocols from certified instructors. Check to see if your state provides similar courses.

Tell your friends about the No Phone Zone Campaign held by Oprah Winfrey and take the No Phone Zone pledge. Another campaign that promotes traffic safety is the DoSomething.org and Thumb Wars. Its target is to educate the 16 to 25 year old age group in the dangers of texting. You can get thumb socks that prevent messaging while driving by spreading the word to not text while behind the wheel.

The National Safety Council provides resources for safety on the road. You can download reports with current statistics and learn more on Driver Safety (http://www.nsc.org/safety_road/DriverSafety/Pages/driver_safety.aspx). Another website to check out is the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (http://www.nhtsa.gov/Driving+Safety). Here you can find research information on Vehicle Research and Testing (VRTC), Crash Avoidance, Laws and regulations and more.

Another simple and effective solution to distracted driving is to simply turn off your phone. Many lives are at risk when you don't pay attention. A phone call or a text message can wait. Do your part and help reduce the number of vehicle crashes and deaths due to distracted driving by educating yourself and others.

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