Tech solutions emerge to prevent texting behind the wheel

Getting people off their cell phone keypads while they're behind the wheel is becoming a national legal obsession -- but, as is the case with laws that prohibit people from talking on their cell phone while they're driving, everyone knows that any law against the practice will have virtually no effect in the real world unless the punishments are extreme.

But what if you could actually prevent people from texting while driving by using a technological solution?

That's the idea of a handful of startups which are looking to block cell phone texting functions from the driver of a car while he's behind the wheel. The Wall Street Journal digests several of the strategies in the above-linked piece, including a look at a system from Safe Driving Systems which uses Bluetooth to tell when a car is being driven and shuts down the phone's ability to be used during that time. Calls and texts come through, but the driver can't respond until he stops.

Aegis Mobility offers a similar system that uses GPS to detect when a car is in motion, shutting down phone access unless you're at a full stop. There's no word on how a driver is distinguished from a passenger -- if at all.

Another company, Mobivox, takes not an approach to disable the phone but rather to make it easier for a text-messager to get his message across safely. Mobivox offers a voice-to-text service for 29 cents a message so you can dictate your missive vocally, have it transcribed, then see it sent off over the air. Still sounds a little tricky, safety-wise, but better than tapping away at a phone jammed between your knees while you're cruising along the freeway.

Of course, having technological solutions to the texting-while-driving problem is one thing; actually putting them to use is another. Most people text behind the wheel because they feel they have to for work reasons -- or they're just addicted text junkies -- and both the law and the availability of optional high-tech text-prevention is unlikely to stop that. Parents may mandate such applications to be used by their children, and courts may also force convicted text offenders to use them, but how else can you get people to get on the bandwagon? Insurance incentives, anyone?