Distracted driving is a large and growing problem. In my own office, the typical motor vehicle collision involves a person who is stopped at a place where it is pretty obvious that they should be stopped or would be stopping, such as a red light, a stop sign, or in heavy traffic, and someone is slamming into them. This fact pattern describes a majority of the accidents in my office. 10 or 15 years ago, that would have been less than 25%. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that nine people die every single day from car accidents that result from distracted driving. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 3,477 people were killed, and 391,000 people were injured by distracted drivers in 2015. As disturbing as these figures are, they almost certainly understate the problem. While most accidents in my office were probably caused by distracted driving, very few of them are directly attributed to distracted driving in the police report. As such, they are unlikely to show up in the NHTSA statistics. Distracted driving has become a more serious problem even than drunk driving. 10 or 15 years ago it would have been absurd even to suggest such a thing could happen. Part of this change is because there has been greater awareness of the problems of drunk driving and enforcement of the drunk driving laws. It is hoped that greater awareness and enforcement will cut down the problem of distracted driving as well. Just as we now see beer and alcohol companies and bars and other vendors of alcohol becoming more proactive in combatting the problem of drunk driving, it is nice to finally see that the cell phone manufacturers are similarly becoming proactive. It is unfortunate that it took so long. It is unfortunate that they needed to be shamed into doing this. However, it is better that they have come late than not at all.
Perhaps the most exciting development in this area is coming to the iPhone. The upcoming iOS 11 will have a new feature called “Do not Disturb while Driving” mode. This is a new feature that drivers can activate which keeps notifications and texts from appearing on the iPhone screen while in “Do not Disturb while Driving” mode. It also restricts incoming calls but has to be manually set to stop them altogether. The really exciting thing about this feature is that it also uses the phone’s GPS and Wifi systems to recognize when the phone is in a moving vehicle and goes into “Do not Disturb while Driving” mode automatically. These phones can be manually unlocked to allow passengers in cars to continue to use them, although that would also mean they can be manually unlocked to allow drivers to use them as well. As such, the system is anything but full proof. However, it is dramatic step in the right direction.
Android has also come up with an app called “Drivemode: Driving Interface”. This app is available through the Verizon Message Center in AT&T which is to say that it must be affirmatively downloaded by the user. This app mutes all incoming notifications; sends telephone calls directly to voicemail and sends an automated “busy while driving” response to any texts that are received while in this mode. This Android app does include other features such as hands-free music and navigation control to encourage people to use it.
However, it is a mystery to me as to why this app has to be downloaded and why it is not standard to the Android system. To me, it makes all new Android phones unreasonably dangerous, and thus subject to product liability claims for anyone who is injured as a result of a driver distracted by an Android phone. This potentially could include the driver as well.