Is Apple Choosing iPhone 'Life' Over Your Family's?

Texting While Driving Safety & Prevention

Texting while driving is quickly becoming the biggest danger on our roads. It's reportedly killing more people than drinking and driving. Families are starting to fight this epidemic through education, and others are taking it one step further by installing third party software that stops texting while driving and distracted driving automatically on mobile technology. When we compiled the Distracted Driving Software Comparison Chart, we noticed that AT&T customers that own the Apple iPhone do not have the option to combat texting while driving by using technology.

According to USA Today , AT&T signed up 1.6 million iPhone customers in 2009. That was before the release of the iPhone 4, and before the Apple iPhone is potentially released in 2011 to Verizon Wireless, America's largest wireless carrier. So why are millions of additional Americans at risk? Is Apple's technology not up to snuff?

Is Apple's Technology Not Able to Support Distracted Driving Apps?

Not according to our sources.

Erik Wood, founder of OTTER (One Touch Text Response) has been frustrated by the lack of access his public safety related app has to one of the leaders in mobile technology. According to Mr. Wood, "Our first targeted smart phone platform was Apple's iPhone. It seemed like a natural fit for OTTER. However, we quickly found that the iPhone operating system does not allow 3rd party apps like ours to run freely on their system. Let me be clear to say that it's not because the iPhone cannot run it, but because Apple isn't permitting it to run. We therefore moved on to Android, Blackberry and now the Nokia Ovi App Store - none of these mobile operating systems restrict our application's functionality."

A similar message was found at ZoomSafer, where co-founder Michael Riemer told us that "Unlike, BlackBerry, Android and Windows Phone, the iPhone SDK does not provide access to the telecomm services (phone, email, text) that are required to implement a policy-based safe driving solution" ZoomSafer's patented technology can determine when the user is driving, and reacts accordingly.

One application, SAFECELLapp, will warn drivers of current distracted driving laws for a location by using GPS technology. Additionally, it is the only distracted driving application that will work on the new iPhone OS4 operating system. However, it does not respond to in-transit messages, block calls or texting if a certain speed is reached. Those important features are available for the Android. A search on the iPhone 3G (which I use) yielded one result for "True SMS - Life Saver". It allows users to send pre-made messages 'while on a quick stop', like a red light for example. According to their description, "our goal was to automatically send a reply when you are on the move without you doing anything. As soon as that is possible we will do it". A search on the Apple website for the terms "distracted driving" and "texting while driving" only yielded one relevant result, where the iPhone 3G Product Info and Safety Guide warns consumers to "pull off the road and park" before making or answering a call if driving conditions require.

In 2007, the year that Apple allowed third party applications to run on the iPhone, Steve Jobs said "I've used 3rd party apps... the more you add, the more your phone crashes. No one's perfect, and we'd sure like our phone not to crash once a day...".

Without hearing more from Apple, I can't help but wonder if that same reasoning is keeping Apple from giving developers the access they need. Granted, it's not Apple's job to install or force us to use the application, but it's always best when we have choices. Distracted driving developers and advocates are concerned for the millions at risk of car accidents, or worse, if Apple does not open their software developer's kit (SDK) to existing solutions, or at a minimum offer their own application that fights distracted driving.

Note: Accidents.com did not reach out to Apple for comment, but our readers are encouraged to reach out to Apple and encourage them to join the fight against distracted driving by permitting these applications to be installed on the iPhone with the upcoming release. None of the companies quoted or mentioned in this article are clients of Accidents.com at the time of publication.

All content on Accidents.com is for informational purposes only and is NOT intended as legal or medical advice. Please seek advice from a professional on any related topics.

Tags:  Accident Prevention · Car Accidents · Distracted Driving · IPhone · Teen Driving Safety · Texting While Driving