But for distracted driving advocates to prevail, new technology is needed. Such technology must take drivers’ decisions to behave recklessly by texting or surfing the Web out of their hands. And that technology is arising, along with ramped up resistance by the public to driving distractions.
With more than half of young drivers using cell phones while at the wheel, something had to be done for parents to take control. And that something includes products such as Cellcontrol, which costs $7.95 for as many as six phones. Its maker is based in Baton Rouge, LA.

Using this device, a parent can ensure that sons or daughters cannot use their cell phone while a vehicle is moving.

But it’s not just parents. It’s also companies and employers who are using such technology to make their drivers — and our roads — safer. Often such technology involves a GPS system or other means of linking a phone to a vehicle’s motion.

According to USA Today, corporate fleet managers are applying such new technology to keep employees focused on their life-or-death responsibility of driving a company vehicle instead of talking, texting or Web-surfing while at the wheel.

Another technology being used in this battle is iZup’s array of products for distracted driving prevention for BlackBerry and Android devices. These are believed to cost $20 yearly.

One mother who uses such a product to curb her teen daughter’s cell phone use while driving told USA Today, “Technology got us into this; technology can get us out.”

Other products in the fight for safer streets include Key2SafeDriving, Taser International’s Protector and Trinity-Noble’s Guardian Angel.

All such products can help, but so can a wider public understanding that distracted driving due to cell phone use kills 5,000 Americans annually and injures many more, while costing billions of dollars in damages. Such victims include teens whose lives were cut short when they drove while texting a message as inconsequential as “What’s up?”

What’s up today is increased public concern and heightened actions against the dangers of distracted driving.

Actually, products to combat distracted driving began hitting the market about three years ago — when this law firm began campaigning for improvements. But they’re just now starting to “take off” in the marketplace. People take time to be convinced — but they’re getting there.

If someone in your family was injured due to a distracted driver, let us know — and let us help.