One of the biggest distractions for a driver is their cell phone. From texting, to calling, to searching the web— a cell phone, while useful, doesn’t offer much more than a safety hazard when you’re behind the wheel. While you might be an advocate for no texting while driving, you probably still take phone calls. But, holding a conversation can still reduce a driver’s focus on the road. Not to mention, looking away for those two seconds see who it is and answer, can increase the risk of an accident. It seems nearly unavoidable sometimes, but Apple has come up with a way to circumvent this issue.
Apple and ‘Do Not Disturb’: Revolutionizing Driver Safety
Apple announced it at the World Developers Conference last year. This feature promotes driving safety, as it allows the phone to go into a do not disturb mode while you’re driving. The phone will remind the driver to enable this special mode once they first enter the vehicle. So, it allows for everything you receive to be put on hold until you can safely check your notifications. By doing this, they reduce the desire of the driver to look over every time they hear their phone ding, because the ‘ding’ is nonexistent. In the case that there is a passenger rider, he must press the power button to confirm he is not the driver.
The only downside…
Unfortunately, this feature cannot end cell phone distraction unless the driver is willing. In short, it still provides the driver with a choice. The driver must allow the activation of do not disturb. Ultimately, it is highly likely most drivers will not choose to enable it. There will be people who forget, or simply disregard it. In addition, there is an option to allow notifications from favorite contacts in the do not disturb while driving mode. In this case, most all notifications will stop except for those from selected favorites. Therefore, drivers may still face driver distractions even after enabling this safety mode. Especially, being that it is from someone they consider ‘important’ enough to favorite.
Despite these downfalls, this new feature is a step in the right direction. For those that choose to enable this mode, they will also be choosing to make the road a safer place. And for those that chose not to, at least this feature is reminding them that a cell phone is a distraction on the road.