California Police Chief- Fall 2013 | Page 34

Sprint Drive First: Stop the Distractions & Shift Focus to the Road According to a 2013 study on traffic safety culture by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, nearly all drivers view texting or emailing while driving as a very serious threat to their own personal safety and consider it completely unacceptable.1 Given this growing consumer awareness, Sprint is continuing its close to ten years of educating wireless users about overall driver safety and the dangers of texting while driving. The company’s current work includes a portfolio of tools wireless customers and the business community can use to assist in their distracted driving prevention, including: Sprint Drive First: A free wireless application that helps drivers stay focused on the road by locking their smartphone when motion is detected. Sprint Drive First automatically detects movement above 10 miles per hour and locks the mobile phone. Incoming calls are directed to voicemail and incoming texts receive a standardized response. Sprint Drive First is available on Sprint CDMA Android™-powered smartphones for free in Google Play. Sprint Connected Solutions for Fleet Management: Sprint offers businesses with fleets a choice of industry-leading fleetmanagement solutions that help fleet managers to identify and reduce risky driving behaviors including harsh braking, starts, stops, speeding and swerving while enabling them to track and monitor vehicle locations, optimize driver dispatch and routing, and receive maintenance reminders and alerts. Some solutions help drivers self-coach by providing an in-vehicle alert when they violate a company driving policy (speeding, etc). Sprint Velocity: This solution helps automakers around the world develop and market totally customized connected services for their cars and passenger trucks. Connected car services enabled by Sprint Velocity can include infotainment features such as music, news, weather and sports, Wi-Fi connections for mobile devices, security, navigation, emergency services and engine diagnostics. 1  AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, 2013 Traffic Safety Culture Index Full Report. January 2014, from https://www.aaafoundation.org/ 2013-traffic-safety-culture-index. 34 California Police Chief | www.californiapolicechiefs.org DriveCam: Powered by Lytx Programs, DriveCam captures video and audio inside and outside of the vehicle when triggered by a risky driving event that could lead to a collision. The device provides real-time feedback to the driver, and video events are uploaded via the wireless network enabled by Sprint to Lytx’s review center where they are analyzed, scored and posted to the company’s cloud-based platform for driver coaching and improvement. Sprint Solutions for Usage-Based Insurance (UBI): This service gives insurance carriers the ability to offer customers personalized discounts based on their driving habits. The vehicle is fitted with a small device that easily plugs into the diagnostic port. It captures vehicle information and driver behavior data which is transmitted over the Sprint wireless network. A cloudbased system analyzes the data with driver scoring software that enables insurance carriers to improve driver risk assessments and provide insurers and their policyholders with accurate and reliable data analytics. Additionally, for a fourth consecutive year, Sprint is sponsoring the Do Something Thumb Wars campaign. Starting in May 2014, Sprint’s partnership with Do Something, will include a celebrity public service announcement, the distribution of 80,000 pairs of thumb socks to teen students who can win a $10,000 college scholarship, and spreading information about distracted driving awareness nationwide to teens and adults. More information on Sprint’s distracted driving efforts can be found at sprint.com/drive. ■