Type on Walking, the worst mobile app for driving
Was he using “Type on Walking?” The world will never know. (Photo Credit: CC BY-ND/Darren Clare/Flickr)
Distracted driving is like driving with a death wish – you’re taking people’s lives in your already busy hands while Charles Bronson punches you in the trachea. If you haven’t already, you’ll feel like dying by the time he’s done slamming his knuckles into your air chimney – deservedly so. For those of you who love mobile apps and would like to avoid distracted driving due to app distraction, spare yourself the brush with death known as “Type on Walking.”
‘Type on Walking,’ not on driving
A free iOS app by Chinese developer Gaohuijuan, “Type on Walking” enables users to write text messages, emails and social networking posts while walking. The rear-facing camera of the iPhone displays real-time video of what’s in front of the walker, and the text is displayed atop the moving image. In theory,
“This combined with your peripheral vision is just enough visual information to help you avoid obstacles–like walking face-first into a pole!” claims “Type on Walking’s” App Store listing. “Despite the name, Type On Walking is useful while you’re sitting or standing too. Use it anytime you would like to keep an eye on your surroundings while you type.”
However, in execution, it leaves something to be desired – particularly since you know people are going to try to use the app while driving. It’s a distracted driving accident waiting to happen, even if you’re a deft technology ranger with the reflexes of a Hollywood stunt driver.
Scared straight – Distracted driving stats to sober you up
If in a drunken moment you decide that “Type on Walking” is what you need for your next road trip, have a friend strap you to a table until you sober up. All the while, have them read these very real distracted driving stats to you, courtesy of the U.S. Department of Transportation and other sources:
- 20 percent of vehicle accidents are directly related to distracted driving
- In June 2011, over 196 billion text messages were sent or received in the U.S.
- Drivers age 20 and under have the highest proportion of distracted driving accidents
- 40 percent of U.S. teens admit to having been in a car where the driver used a cell phone in a way that endangered themselves and others
- Drivers who use mobile devices are four times more likely to be involved in an injury-causing crash
- Text messaging increases the risk of crashing (when compared with no distraction) by 23 times
- Sending or receiving a text takes the driver’s eyes off the road for 4.6 seconds on average, long enough for a car traveling at 55 mph to drive the length of a football field
- Driving while using a mobile device reduces brain activity associated with driving by 37 percent
Don’t reduce your brain activity to terminal levels. Don’t use “Type on Walking” when you drive.
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Cell phones and distracted driving
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Sources
Type N Walk: http://www.type-n-walk.com/