Distracted driving is a problem. It’s against the law in a lot of places, and that makes sense, because it’s more dangerous than driving drunk. If only there was a way for police to determine who is driving distracted and who is just a terrible driver. New York may be considering allowing police officers to use a device to determine if a driver was distracted by the phone before a crash. It’s called a Textalyzer, and it’s from Israeli company Cellebrite.
No one’s really saying how the device works, but what it basically does is allow the police to determine if someone is using a phone. However, it doesn’t reveal to the police just what the driver was doing, so the driver’s texts, conversations, photos, and the like; all it tells the cops is if the person was using it at the time of the crash. That would be very valuable for people in places where cell use behind the wheel is banned, and it might help prove once and for all that using the phone while driving is generally a huge distraction.
“I have often heard there is no such thing as a breathalyzer for distracted driving — so we created one,” said Ben Lieberman, who co-founded DORC after his son Evan was killed by a distracted driver in 2011. “Respecting drivers’ personal privacy, however, is also important, and we are taking meticulous steps to not violate those rights.”
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