App Prevents Texting While Driving

A Pocatello doctor has created an anti-texting phone app to save lives.

The app, available at Google Play (formerly the Android Marketplace), registers when a person is going more than 15 mph and then locks the phone. It can’t make or receive texts, but will only allow you to make a 911 call.

The idea for the smartphone app that stops texting behind the wheel started in the operating room after a sad day for Jacob DeLaRosa, a surgeon at Portneuf Medical Center.

“We had just taken care of a young girl who had been in a car accident due to texting while driving,? he said. ?She rolled into the operating room, and we couldn’t save her life.”

The Speed Security app is by ONELAT, which stands for One Life At A Time. The app uses GPS technology to measure the speed the phone is traveling, but it has no way of knowing if the user is behind the wheel, so it will also lock down your phone if you’re just a passenger.

You can find the app on Google Play. So far it isn’t available on non-Android platforms. All the profits go to Mothers Against Drunk Driving.