The TextKills® tour bus, with nearly 40,000 pledges to refrain from the dangerous practices of “texting while driving” and “distracted driving” will be on display at AAA Speedway, Fontana, CA, this Saturday 3/24 for the Royal Purple 300.
Fontana, CA, March 23, 2012 – April is recognized nationwide as Distracted Driving Awareness month, and Iconosys, Inc., a leader in Smartphone mobile safety applications, is getting a head start promoting this very important cause with their TextKills® tour bus, which will be on display at the AAA Speedway in Fontana, CA for the Royal Purple 300. This continues the TextKills® presence at NASCAR events, following up on efforts from last year, where the bus made appearances at certain events and enlisted the support and cooperation of the MacDonald Motorsports Team (who race Nationwide Series Cars #81 & #82) and Driver Michael McDowell, who made special promotional appearances for the cause during the final 8 races of the 2010-2011 season, and at distracted driving events in Arizona on behalf of TextKills and Iconosys.
Federal safety regulators say they proposed guidelines for distracting in-car technology before doing so for mobile devices that drivers bring into cars because it could be done faster, and they have clearer authority.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposed voluntary guidelines last month urging automakers to block drivers from plugging addresses into navigation systems or browsing the Web while in motion. It plans a second round of guidelines later for mobile devices and a third for voice-activated systems.
The agency will deal with mobile devices “as rapidly as feasible,” NHTSA chief David Strickland said at a hearing Monday on the proposal.
NHTSA says 3,000 people were killed in distracted-driving crashes last year, but its data also show the biggest driver distractions are reaching for objects and talking to passengers. In its proposal, NHTSA reported that 17% of police-reported crashes in 2010 involved distraction, but just 3% of those involved distraction by devices installed in the cars, such as navigation systems.
A group of text messages is being used by Mathieu Fortin, the boyfriend of a car accident victim, in an effort to warn others to pay attention while behind the wheel. Fortin created a Facebook page specifically to spread the word about his girlfriend, Emy Brochu, who passed away on January 18. Her car crashed into the back of a tractor-trailer when it was merging into traffic near Victoriaville, Quebec. Brochu had been texting Fortin, sending him messages of love, before sending him the final one. The final text message read, “I love you too and I will do all I can to make you happy.”
A bill banning drivers from texting or reading electronic messages on South Carolina’s roadways has received key approval in the House. With the measure not attempting to ban use of cell phones in cars altogether by exempting messages sent through voice-operated devices, its prospects are better than previous attempts at regulating texting.
The Associated Press reported that sponsoring Rep. Don Bowen said he became passionate about the dangers of texting behind the wheel because his seven grandchildren will all soon be driving. The Anderson Republican said the bill puts technology and responsibility in sync. He hopes it alerts drivers to a danger he compares to drunken driving.
Why wait on the law? “Ban” texting yourself.
We join the S.C. Department of Public Safety in encouraging every high school student in the state to take the W8 2 TXT (wait to text) pledge. From now until April 30, students can sign up online atw82txtpledge.com to agree that they will not text while driving their vehicles.
Talking on a hand-held cellphone while driving is banned in 10 states (California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Utah, and Washington) and the District of Columbia. Utah has named the offense careless driving. Under the Utah law, no one commits an offense when speaking on a cellphone unless they are also committing some other moving violation other than speeding.
The use of all cellphones by novice drivers is restricted in 30 states and the District of Columbia and the use of all cellphones while driving a school bus is prohibited in 19 states and the District of Columbia.
Automakers plan to testify today that smartphone and portable GPS makers should be included in new federal efforts to combat technology-related driver distraction.
Proposed federal guidelines for in-car technology, the subject of the Transportation Department hearing, require automakers to block drivers from plugging addresses into navigation systems or browsing the Web. But devices drivers bring into their cars aren’t addressed.
“Is that tiny screened portable device with no industry driving safety guidelines irrelevant?” asks Tom Baloga, BMW vice president of engineering. No indeed, says Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. He says the guidelines are a continuation of his “drumbeat” against distracted driving, which has led to the passage of more than 25 state laws against texting since he took office.
“Our idea is that people should not be distracted by anything,” LaHood said Friday.
State bill would give parents access to kids’ text messages
Several lawmakers question measure; wireless companies voice opposition
Published: Tuesday, February 28, 2012 10:45 AM MST
PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona parents may someday see what text messages their children are sending and receiving, according to a bill making its way through the state Legislature.
It currently takes a court order to compel a cellphone company to give parents access to text messages sent to and from their child’s phone, even if Mom and Dad pay the bill.
The Arizona Republic reported the bill passed the Senate Judiciary Committee and still needs a vote of the full Senate before going to the House and then the governor.
Although the bill is moving forward, it faces some significant hurdles.
Several lawmakers questioned the need for such a measure, and the wireless industry has come out against it.
Sen. Judy Burges, R-Sun City West, voted against the proposal in committee.
“Why don’t you take a flashlight and go in the closet and read the texts?” she asked.
Montgomery County Community College and Montco United Soccer Club’s Karen Wildey Memorial Indoor Soccer Tournament Proceeds Will Benefit the college’s Mustangs’ Soccer Program and Fund Local Anti-DUI/Distracted Driving Awareness Programs.
The Montgomery County Community College Mustangs and the Montgomery United Soccer Club are jointly hosting the Fifth Annual Karen Wildey Memorial Indoor Soccer Tournament on Saturday, March 3, 2012, at the College’s Physical Education Center, Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell.
The tournament, sanctioned by the Eastern PA Youth Soccer Association and the US Club Soccer, is for boys and girls in age groups U10 through U19. The times and schedule will be based on the number of participants. To register, visit montgomerysoccer.net.
Proceeds from the event will benefit the Mustangs Athletics Soccer Program and will fund local Anti-DUI/Distracted Driving Awareness Programs for students and the community.
The All New Word Bully™ 2.0 — now available in Spanish! — monitors and filters text messaging in varying levels of protection in order to protect loved-ones from Cyber-bullying Trick or Tracker® child location retrieval service is built in to the application at no extra cost
Laguna Niguel, Calif., February 2, 2012 – Iconosys, Inc., a leader in mobile safety communication and life-style applications, today releases the latest app in its PunkBlocker™ line of Smartphone Apps: Word Bully™ 2.0.
Word Bully™ 2.0 allows a parent/guardian to customize a filter for profanity, vulgar or threatening language, and other offensive communications. This is all done with the protection of password-enabled access for the parent/guardian. If a Cyber-bullying text message is sent with this type of language, it is automatically forwarded to the parent/guardian’s phone stating – giving the parent an exact account of what was said.
Cyber-bullying is an epidemic that carries with it great dangers for the general population, not to mention our friends and family members. In today’s society, where much of our discourse and communications are done via the Internet, mobile communications devices and text messaging, our loved-ones (children and adults) are easy targets for, and potential victims of, the harmful practice of cyber-bullying.
“Having lost my loving son to the horrible reality of Suicide, his response to bullying . I encourage all parents to look hard at solutions as simple as this one from Iconosys. Their tireless effort and works help us protect our children from the bullies out there that know not what affect they have. Bullying is a naive effort by other children to find their own identity. The casualties that result are our problem! Even if you think your kids are safe, confident, and free from bullying, you should consider this app.”, said Brenda High, founder of Bully Police USA, Inc. “Sometimes it only takes one instance to change a child’s life [and ours] forever”
Word Bully™ 2.0 Features include:
Protection monitoring for approximately 4500 words, acronyms, bulli-cons, phrases, and collections or arrangements of characters that might be considered profanity, threatening and/or vulgar (nearly 1200 more than the previous version).
The app also allows you to create and manage a customized list of monitored words (e.g. acronyms, abbreviations, cultural-isms, and gang-style lingo) that are used.
Enable and disable the Word Bully™ service using the protected access feature of a parental-controlled password.
Word Bully™ monitors for inbound and outbound questionable communications and forwards them to the parent’s phone, identifying if it was “sent to” or “sent from” your child.
Choose to monitor ALL text message communications with certain settable “Black Listed” individuals, such as those people you believe or suspect to be a significant and/or potential threat, with the ability to then forward on threatening or offensive communications responsible authorities or other third parties with a need to know.
Choose to ignore messages from specific numbers or add numbers to a “White List” that will be outside the scope of the app monitoring and filtering.
Locate your child anytime with Iconosys’ Trick or Tracker®, recently touted by the Good Morning America and Today shows, child location retrieval service, built right in to the app! (a $4.95 value)
Today, drivers increasingly use their cell phones in the car. While we recommend that you avoid talking on the phone while driving, we recognize it may be unavoidable at times. If you must use your cell phone while driving, here are a few cell phone safety tips to follow.
Safety Tips
Get to know your cell phone and its features, such as speed dial and redial.
Carefully read your instruction manual and learn to take advantage of valuable features most cell phones offer, including automatic redial and memory. Also, work to memorize the phone keypad so you can use the speed dial function without taking your attention off the road.
When available, use a hands-free device.
A number of hands-free cell phone accessories are readily available today. Whether you choose an installed mounted device for your cell phone or a speaker phone accessory, take advantage of these devices if available to you.
Position your cell phone within easy reach.
Place your cell phone within easy reach and where you can grab it without taking your eyes off of the road. If you receive a call at an inconvenient time, if possible, let your voice mail answer it for you.
Abu Dhabi Traffic Accidents Dropped 40% During the BlackBerry Outage
There’s some surprising good news to come out of the BlackBerry’s maligned worldwide outage: fewer car accidents in the United Arab Emirates. Officials in the country are reporting that traffic accidents plummeted 40 percent in Abu Dhabi and 20 percent in Dubai between last Tuesday and Thursday, when the BlackBerry blackout rolled through the Middle East, reports The National, the UAE’s state-owned English daily. “People are slowly starting to realise the dangers of using their phone while driving,” comments one Abu Dhabi police official. “The roads became much safer when BlackBerry stopped working.” Those statistics might serve as a healthy wake-up call to Emiratis: as The Atlantic’s Max Fisher notes today, the UAE’s devil-may-care car culture makes its roads among the world’s most dangerous.
In our campaign for driving safety, one of our strongest partners is the National Organizations for Youth Safety (NOYS). The exceptional young people who make up NOYS are tireless safety advocates who have been enthusiastic participants in our fight to end distracted driving.
To train and empower even more youth leaders to help address this important safety issue, NOYS will host its 2011 Distracted Driving Summit in Washington, DC, on October 17, and they are looking for young people who want to participate.
Mom take so many precautions when it comes to their child…and then they turn around and text while driving?
I admit. I’ve driven distracted, with my kids in the car.
I’ve started reminding myself that the two most precious things in the world to me are in the backseat whenever I feel the urge to do something while driving, and I’m doing much better. Like me, though, it appears lots of moms don’t stop multitasking once they get behind the wheel.
Good Housekeeping partnered with Yahoo Shine! to find out whether moms are multitasking during driving and 55% said yes. What’s distracting them?
According to a recent survey, parents’ top concerns for their children this school year is sexting, the practice of sending racy and inappropriate text and picture messages via cell phone.
Nearly half of the parents polled (49%) listed their top concern as sexting, followed by text messaging at 33%.
Here’s the sad part, 49% of respondents said their child had received an inappropriate text message or picture, and 21% reported their child has received a sext.
Keeping tabs on children is good for their safety, but the problem is, children often become more “savvy” with the device than their parents and use the phone as their own communication tool, sometimes inappropriately.
The author of Keep Your Family Safe Online offers these suggestions on protecting your children while online and using their cell phones.
No. 1: Get their passwords. Bowers said parents should have access to their children’s Twitter and Facebook accounts, and should check these sites on a weekly basis.
No. 2: Take note of the device your child is using. Laptops and computers aren’t the outlet for kids to hop online. Parents should realize where and how their kids are using the Internet and monitor that device. Also, keep tabs on the monthly phone bill to see how often and with who your child is texting.
No. 3: ‘Friend’ your kids. Send ‘Friend’ requests to your children on Facebook and request to follow them on Twitter. This way, they know you are on these sites and you can see what they are up to, Bowers says.
No. 4: Consider software. Parental control software will do the “heavy lifting” for parents in terms of monitoring children’s online activity.
No. 5: Talk to them. “Make sure there is a two-way communication to understand what is going on in their life,” Bowers advises. “Let them know they can come to you.”
It’s also a good idea to reminds kids that what they say online can have long-lasting repercussions, and that they shouldn’t post anything that might come back to bite them as an adult.
Texting while driving is not only dangerous for you, but to other innocent people around you. Think before you do something that could inhibit safe driving.
Mother Valetta Bradford of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Discusses the Crash that Paralyzed Her Young Son
WASHINGTON –U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today released the latest video in the U.S. Department of Transportation’s “Faces of Distracted Driving” series, featuring the story of Xzavier Davis-Bilbo from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
On October 10, 2010, 5-year-old Xzavier was crossing the street near his home in Milwaukee when he was struck by a young woman who was texting while driving. Xzavier, who had dreams of becoming a football player when he grew up, was left paralyzed from the diaphragm down.
“The crash that paralyzed young Xzavier is a tragic reminder of the potential consequences of distracted driving,” said Secretary LaHood. “I hope that everyone who hears his story will remember to keep their eyes on the road, their hands on the wheel, and their focus on driving.”
The video released today was produced by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and submitted for inclusion in the “Faces of Distracted Driving” series by Xzavier’s mother, Valetta Bradford.
“I hope anyone who thinks it is okay to text and drive watches our story,” said Valetta Bradford. “You can’t take your eyes off the road at any time.”
“Faces of Distracted Driving” is a video series that raises awareness about the potentially tragic consequences of texting and cell phone use while driving by sharing the stories of family members who have lost loved ones in distracted driving crashes. In 2009, nearly 5,500 people died and half a million were injured in accidents involving a distracted driver. The series is part of Secretary LaHood’s effort to raise greater awareness about the dangers of distracted driving.
I was listening to Howard Stern when I heard that The World Trade Center had been hit by the first plane. God Bless all the lives of those that were lost on that day. God Bless their families. God Bless the USA!
Today we remember and are thankful for your sacrifice.
18 Schools, US Dot 2010 Distracted Driving Summit, over 100 news stations covered the trip in only 19 Days
The TextKills.com DriveReplier
Let DriveReplier auto-reply to your incoming texts while you're driving so that you can concentrate on the road.
$4.95 One Time Only Lifetime license to SMSReplier. $2 of your purchase goes to FocusDriven.org
It’s Shamefully Legal To Kill While Texting In These States
AL, AZ, FL, HI, IN, MO, MT, NV, NM, OH, OK, PA, SC, SD, TX, WV
Let's work to get the rest of the states on board with the ban.
66 Celebs have signed the pledge including:
Jimmy Johnson
Simon Cowell (5/20)
Will and Jada Smith (5/17)
Justin Bieber (5/11)
Charice (5/11)
Usher (5/10)
Chris Allen
Brooke Burke
Paula Dean
Randy Jackson
Naomi Campbell (5/3)
Carson Kressley (5/5)
Boston Red Sox (4/30)
Dr. Oz (4/30)
Mario Lopez (4/30)
Lisa Ling (4/30)
Jillian Barberie (GoodDayLA)(4/30)
Dr. Phil & Robin (4/29)
Sir Elton John (4/16)
Sandra Bullock
Jeff Bridges
Mo'Nique
Jerry Seinfeld
Raquel Welch
Shaun White
Lady Antebellum
Tyler Perry
The cast of Glee
Tina Fey
Queen Rania of Jordan
Tom Papa
Ed Whitacre
You should too! Click Here! or Text (but not while driving) the letters NPZ to 30644.
Who else has signed the pledge that we may have missed? Email us and let us know.
ShareThis
