Candace Lightner is the founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), and she’s also the woman behind a new piece of technology that may stop driving and texting for good. The new technology is being called the ‘textalyzer’ and it acts a lot like a breathalyzer.
How Police Will Use the Textalyzer
A textalyzer is a small piece of technology that police officers can use to determine whether or not someone had been texting prior to any kind of accident. After asking to see the devices of anyone involved in an accident, the textalyzer would scan a phone’s system to determine whether or not that phone was used before a crash or accident.
Just like a breathalyzer, refusing to hand over a phone to a police officer could be grounds for license suspension. At the time of this writing, usage of the textalyzer has not been approved, but it is heading in that direction (and with Lightner behind the cause, it is likely to become very commonplace within the next few years).
Distracted Driving on the Rise
Presently, deaths caused by drunk or distracted driving are up 8%. Often, people associate road fatalities with drunk driving (which can be the case as well), though distracted driving is also a major cause. Unfortunately, many people are combining the two as well - texting after drinking and driving are not uncommon.
Many Americans have admitted to driving while texting and after drinking. A breathalyzer test can determine whether or not someone has been drinking and driving, and now the textalyzer test can help police figure out of a person that caused an accident was texting while driving. If the textalyzer law is passed, it could mean the end of a lot of texting and driving incidents.
