Zoom Safer Intro Video - Zoom safer is a software for your mobile device (Blackberry at the moment) that helps the driver of any car drive safely without the distraction of your mobile phone. The software suppresses incoming phone calls, emails, and text messages that would normally prompt you to use the phone while driving. A contact list of priority people can be listed on the myzoomsafer.com website, and announced when they call. If you take the call it will go to speaker phone or blue tooth if enabled. Any call that was suppressed, or ignored will prompt a text message to be sent back to the caller if they called from a mobile phone.
Why would anyone want to get this for themselves? Well, if you want to be a responsible and safer driver, this is the way to go.
Parents will love something like this for their teenage drivers who are more likely to be distracted with text messages than their parents. Companies with fleets of drivers would also be a target for software like this to limit their liability. They can require their drivers to use this software to limit their distractions in company vehicles.
I have tested the ZoomSafer software on a loaner Blackberry unit. The software automatically activates when it senses you are driving. When it turns on you hear a message alerting you to the fact that it is now enabled. This message can be customized with up to five rotating clips that you can upload on the myzoomsafer.com website. You can upload audio of your child, or a spouse, or your favorite cartoon character. Anything to give you the positive re-enforcement you need to feel better about not having access to your phone while driving.
Let everyone know that you’re on the road! Only if you want to. Using the controls at myzoomsafer.com you can integrate your account with twitter and facebook. Why? Well, to tell everyone you’re driving, of course. What else do we do with facebook and twitter. Or, better yet, it’s tell everyone not to bother you. You’re busy being safe. In all honesty a few of my friends thought the message was a spam invasion on my account. At the time of testing I did not notice an area to customize the message that is sent to your account.
If you’re the passenger of the car you can tell the software that you are the passenger and it will go to “sleep” for any length you set from a pull-down menu. Anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours. It is possible for someone who is actually driving to use this feature to bypass the software, but at that point the driver is making a conscious decision to LIE to the software so they can use their phone. For a company, that places responsibility squarely on the driver. For a teenager, well, consider them BUSTED when the parents check the logs.
These are the basics of the service. There are a few premium features that I did not get to test out. Like stats, and voice portal.
Bottom line, I would use this software if it was available on the iPhone. I have texted while driving and it scares the hell out of me when I lose focus and see the cars stop short in front of me. I definitely would love something like this for my son when he starts to drive. Lucky for me I don’t have to worry about that for another 8 years. Check them out at zoomsafer.com
