The Textalyzer: The Solution to Texting and Driving?

The Takeaway | Apr 28, 2016

Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this interview.

In 2015, road fatalities increased by about 8 percent — the number had been falling in recent years, but it's on the rise because of an addiction many drivers are guilty of falling victim to on a daily basis: Texting and driving. 

Using a phone on the road is thought to be the cause of 1 in 4 accidents. Now, lawmakers in New York are voting on what they see as a solution to the cell phone problem this summer.

Legislators in the Empire State want to treat texting and driving like drunk diving, and give police officers a technology called a Textalyzer. An officer would be able to use the device to go into a phone's operating system to determine if anything illegal, like texting, was happening at the time of a crash.

Lauren Smith, policy counsel at the Future of Privacy Forum, joins The Takeaway to discuss the legal issues behind a technology that can tap into a driver's phone, and how it might not be the best deterrent to prevent texting and driving. 

 

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