Cogosense Blog

Cogosense's Driver Behaviour Blog

"These people are promoting death"

"These people are promoting death". Those are strong words but we would do well to heed the source. 

b2ap3_thumbnail_Globe-and-Mail.pngNicholas Ashford is professor of technology and policy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and his quote refers to the auto manufacturers' decisions to prioritize consumer desires for increased technology in vehicles ahead of concerns for safety.

Dr. Ashford was quoted in a recent Globe and Mail article describing the tragic death of Emy Brochu and highlighting that distracted driving now exceeds impaired driving as the greatest cause of death on our roadways.

Aegis has launched TeenSafer to help ensure the safe and responsible use of mobile devices while driving and Aegis is working with partners such as the State of Iowa and Audiovox to bring mass-market solutions to consumers.

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AAA Survey Highlights Increased Concerns Related to Distracted Driving

The AAA Traffic Safety Culture Index (TSCI) was recently released and, amongst its findings, concluded:

  • Nearly 90% of respondents say that distracted drivers are a somewhat or much bigger risk today than three years ago
  • Approximately 95% of respondents said that texting or emailing while driving is perceived as a somewhat or very serious threat to their personal safety

And, yet, despite this conscious awareness of the danger, more than a third of respondents admit to reading messages in the past 30 days while driving.

This "Do as I Say, Not as I Do" attitude continues to be a fundamental issue that affects the safety of our roadways.

Aegis is addressing the problem with solutions that automatically place a device in safe mode while driving and eliminate dangerous distractions until the vehicle has stopped moving.

The full AAA TSCI report for 2013 can be found here.

 

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Drivers Using Phones to Access the Internet Doubles Over the Last Five Years

State Farm's fifth annual survey was released this week and underscores some alarming statistics over the last 5 years (2009-2013):

  • Reading email while driving has increased from 15% to 24%
  • Reading social media while driving has almost doubled from 9% to 17%
  • Accessing the Internet while driving has reached almost 1/4 of all drivers (up from 13% in 2009)

As smartphones become omnipresent in our lives, the temptation to use them while driving continues to grow.

Fortunately, 74 percent of drivers surveyed strongly agree with laws or regulations prohibiting texting or emailing behind the wheel. However, more than half believe that laws governing cell phone use while driving are enforced to little or no extent.

Almost half of survey respondents were extremely likely to support technology that would prevent texting or emailing on a cell phone while driving.

At Aegis, we have just announced that our technology innovations that have become the standard for protecting corporate fleets, in FleetSafer, will be offered for young drivers and families as TeenSafer. The Sate of Iowa Department of Transport is leading the way with their partnership with Aegis to develop TEXTL8R to be made available for free to young drivers in the State of Iowa in the first half of 2014.

See the full State Farm survey results here.

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New Distracted Driving "Explainer" Video

Video is very helpful to animate concepts. This is especially useful for new products in new markets where there is not a mature understanding of solutions.

We've just released a new "explainer" video which provides an overview of the distracted driving problem for corporations and our solution.

Thanks to the folks at Basetwo Media for their great work in the video production!

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Why Distraction Is So Dangerous And What Can We Do About It

Very good article today in Forbes by David DiSalvo featuring an interview with Dr. David Simons (author of the bestselling book "The Invisible Gorilla").

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On the topic of distracted driving, Dr. Simons said:

  • The more attention we devote to gadgets, the less we have available to spot unexpected dangers. In part, the danger comes from our lack of awareness of our own limits. When we’re distracted, we don’t notice that we’re distracted.
  • What we can do is take steps to limit the consequences of those distractions when they matter most. Perhaps those problems can be addressed through technology (e.g., finding a way to prevent texting by a driver while still permitting it by passengers). But, doing so requires better recognition of the risk in the first place.

The full article can be found here.

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