The summer heat is on and as thousands of people prepare for holiday driving adventures, where the duration of trips can take four hours or more. The roads are made even more dangerous due to "distracted drivers" who cannot resist the urge to text and e-mail and even surf the Internet.
The International Transport Forum's 2013 Road Safety Annual Report, South Africa experiences 32 accidents per 100 000 people per year*. And according to Ipsos, South Africa was one of the countries with the highest proportion of participants (41%) who are guilty of texting, e-mailing or using social media while driving**. This makes for a dangerous combination.
"With the excitement of summer, the beach and friends calling and texting, holiday drivers quickly forget about their safety," said Garin Toren, CEO and Founder of messageLOUD. "When people focus correctly, and use messageLOUD, they will know to put their phones out of their hands, listen to all their messages, and arrive safely."
messageLOUD was created to help stop the spread of the distracted driving epidemic. The launch of a new service and Android app means a user's smartphone can automatically read texts and e-mails out loud as they drive. With messageLOUD, users can open the app when they get in the car and select DRIVEmode and connect with Bluetooth.
Best safety practice: listen and drive
Traditionally, there are driving practices that are considered universally safe as opposed to handling a cellphone. Dangerous practices involve holding a phone in your ear or on your lap, dialling a phone in any way, looking for an address, or launching an app, such as e-mail, the camera or Facebook. On the safe side, listening to music, podcasts, sports or someone's voice is okay as well as quick touches, such as tapping a screen, knob or similar device. With messageLOUD, without looking at your device, you can automatically hear all your incoming messages and then take simple actions with a quick tap. Such as, dismiss (mark as read), delete, or call back the sender - completely eyes-free.
Drive confidently and connect safely with messageLOUD
The messageLOUD app is available for download at the Google Play Store: free for the first 30 days, then only R19.99 a month or R199.99 a year. Available today on Android devices and coming next to iPhone and smart wearables, messageLOUD is simple to set up and easy to use.
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