App to Improve Driving

Rivka Farrell

The average teen spends 7 hours and 22 minutes per day on their phone (abcnews.go.com).  An average of 660,000 drivers use electronic devices while driving per day (nhtsa.gov).  Cell phone use while driving causes an average of 1.6 million crashes per year (ncs.org).

In the problem…lies the solution.  Many people enjoy playing games on their phones, posting on social media and texting friends.   Wireless phones, however, distract drivers and prevent them from focusing on the road.  What’s needed is a deterrent that will motivate drivers not to use their phones while driving.  The solution: a game app that promotes safe driving.  This approach combines people’s enjoyment of gaming on their phones but uses it to improve the safety of our roadways.

The app awards points based on the driver’s performance.  Before entering the car, the driver turns on the app and places the phone face-down on a flat surface.  Immediately, the app starts monitoring the speed of the vehicle relative to the speed limit, the frequency of short stops, acceleration, and deceleration.  The phone’s light sensor would also be part of the “game.”   Normally, if someone picks up their phone to look at it, this sensor causes the screen to turn on.  In our case, the app would use the light sensor to award game points to the driver for keeping their phone screen face-down while driving!

What about prizes?  Rewards?  These are essential.  After downloading the app, the user scrolls through options to select their preferred stores or brands.  The points earned for safe driving can be exchanged for gift cards to these favorite stores.  These companies and brands not only offer gift cards, they also can market their promotion of safe driving.   Insurance companies could jump on the bandwagon, too.   Instead of prizes, gamers could choose points that lower their auto insurance payments.   Everyone is a winner here.  The app encourages positive competition, reward safe driving and helps prevent car accidents. 

Personally, I am learning how to drive.  I’ll be honest:  it’s not easy to concentrate on the road, the car and all the other vehicles around me.  Imagine, texting at the same time!  Having an app with financial rewards may motivate more safe drivers in a way that speaks to them.  My hope is that this novel concept will motivate someone to produce my app to improve the safety of our roadways.

My sincere thanks and appreciation to dmvedu.org for helping to underwrite the financial cost of my education towards a career in medicine. Recently, I have been accepted to the biology program at New Jersey Institute of Technology. I look forward to expanding the scope of my knowledge with the long-term goal of attending a research-based medical school. My passion for medicine is inspired by the warmth and dedication of my mother’s oncology medical team. My mother has been battling metastatic breast cancer, having previously triumphed over thyroid cancer. Through choosing this career path, I hope to conduct medical research to discover innovative cures and treatment options.