While technology solves problems and eases challenges, on the other hand, it also produces its challenges. For example, the digital revolution and social networks have made the world more accessible and information more accessible and diverse. Still, it also created dependence and difficulty in disconnecting, which gave rise, among other things, to the phenomenon of “cellular distraction”, which is today a significant cause of road accidents. In this case, however, technology may also be the cure. The Israeli company SaverOne, recently presented a technological solution that may prevent one of the most prominent causes of road accidents
Technology has brought the human race into space, but at the same time, it has also created the climate crisis and the nuclear bomb. In other words, technology has a price, and quite rightly, it is the one that is harnessed to correct the situation it has created. An example of this dynamic can be seen when looking at the history of motorized driving.
Shortens roads and shortens life
The invention of the car in the late 19th century was a significant step for humanity. An action that shortened distances and allowed the world to enter the pace of the modern age. But it had a price. On 17 August 1896, a motorized carriage, speeding on a London street at 7 mph, collided with Bridget Driscoll. Mrs. Driscoll was seriously injured and died a few hours later from her injuries. She became the first person in history to be killed in a car accident.
At the end of the 19th century, the tragedy of Bridget Driscoll was in the form of a “man biting a dog”, the general feeling was that the new technology was much safer and more controlled than a horse attacked by hysteria. However, the twentieth century proved that this was a mistake – as cars became more common and faster, accidents became more frequent and fatal. By the 1920s, people understood that the technology that brought us the benefits of the car also created a problem. Therefore, the technology was recruited again, but this time to solve it.
Throughout the second half of the twentieth century, new technologies were developed and assimilated, making the car safer. For example, many drivers were hit by the glass shards of the windshield in an accident. The answer was a windshield made of tempered glass that does not shatter in an accident. Later the seat belt appeared and in the 1980s, the airbags and ABS system became standard.
Thanks to these technological developments, in 1988, the trend changed and over the years, the number of fatalities in road accidents decreased consistently. For several years it seemed that technology had managed to beat the technology, then came the year 2009 and the trend was reversed again, and since then, the numbers of people killed in road accidents keep rising. What has changed? Technology.
WhatsApp came into the world
In 2007 the first iPhone was launched. It is true that even before the era of smartphones, people used to text while driving, but this became a significant problem when more apps were developed.
The first swallow appeared in February 2009, when a new start-up company called WhatsApp distributed free instant messaging software to smartphones.
Not surprisingly, The year 2009 marked the reversed trend and the statistical graph of fatal road accidents have started to climb upwards. Later, mobile applications reached social networks and video players, and at the beginning of the second decade of the millennium, it was clear that the new technology had created a new problem and not just a problem, a fatal problem. The inability of people to disconnect from their cellphone while driving crosses sectors, genders and ages and is today the domain of all countries in the world. Estimates speak of 3,500 deaths each year in the United States alone due to “cellular distractions.” In Israel, too, the statistics do not lie and there is a clear indication that the increase in fatal accidents in recent years is related to the rise in cellular dependence.
Technology destroys and technology will repair
Once authorities and governments recognized the problem, they tried to give it a solution in legislation. For example, laws have been enacted in most countries prohibiting the distracting use of a cell phone while driving. But it turns out that there are challenging habits to root out. So although the punishment resin is rising and police forces around the world are devoting much effort to enforcement, the problem is not aggravated, but vice versa. Again, this brings us to technology, which as we recall, is primarily intended to solve problems.
One of the first factors that decided to attack the problem of cellular distractions is the Israeli company SaverOne, which was founded in 2014 to develop a technological solution to the problem for the business market. Today it is possible to announce that the mission that SaverOne has taken on has been crowned a success. The solution to cellular distractions already exists and works and is based on technology.
Disable distractions in advance
SaverOne’s solution for preventing cellular distractions is the kind of solution that counts to be both basic and brilliant. The company, which caters to organizations (especially those that operate vehicle fleets), does not seek to punish or educate drivers but instead neutralizes dangerous mobile applications while driving, according to dedicated management settings.
That way, even if the drivers in the company vehicles log into the WhatsApp app while driving or check what’s new in the Twitter feed, they can’t do it because the SaverOne system “takes over” the phone and blocks the option.
In such a situation, the driver has no dilemma – while driving, the phone can only make and receive phone calls (handsfree, of course) and use navigation software unless the fleet manager has defined it differently or allowed access to certain apps.Thus, the person driving the vehicle in which the SaverOne system is installed is not affected by cellular distractions.
