The Governor of the US State of New York, Andrew Cuomo, is taking drastic action to combat and prosecute people who text and drive. Twelve people were killed there between 2011 and 2015 in mobile-related accidents, and there were 2784 injuries. And no fewer than 1.2 million fines were issued due to use of a smartphone in the same period. Cuomo has now equipped his police with a new tool: the Textalyzer.
The software from Cellebrite Mobile Synchronisation, can establish whether a text message was written on a mobile phone at a certain time. To do so, the policeman connects the Textalyzer to the mobile phone of a driver who has had an accident. The device then displays whether and when the phone has been used and for what purpose. Drivers who were writing messages at the wheel could be unmasked by the device.
It is estimated that a driver travels blindly for 14 metres if they glance at their smartphone for just one second while travelling at 50 km/h.
More than 3500 people were killed on Germany’s roads in 2015. According to estimates made in a study by Allianz-Versicherung, one tenth of them died because they were distracted, and it is likely that in many cases this was due to their smartphone.