Recently there has been a spattering of Federal, State and Local Governments announcements of policies to ban cell phone usage ranging from metro and transit authority bans to county bans to federal government bans. And while this maybe a good start, recent cases of government entity's saddeled with mutli-million dollar settlements based on distracted driving also seem to be on the rise.  Earlier last year, Prince George's County lost a case paying out more than $4M.  Plus just this week the city of Palo Alto has settled a case ($1.5 million pay out) based on an employee who crashed because they were distracted.

The Palo Alto crash was caused because the driver reached for the cell phone, taking his eyes off the road, and running a red light.  As discussed in an earlier blog post, distracted driving is a complex issue in which paper policies alone are not enough -- some level of technology must be applied to help ensure safe driving and reduce risk.  In addition, this case points out the need to not only minimize cell phone usage but to always place a phone in a safe and secure place while driving and to minimize any attempts to reach or access the phone. 

It may also seem strange (at least it does to me) that while the legislative wheels are actively turning out various forms of cell phone bans on a state wide basis, there seems to be a lack of consistency among Federal, State and Local government entities to have policies for their own employee's cell phone use. 

With the launch of its commerical technology this past week at CES, ZoomSafer has already seen significant interest from a broad range of government entities who want a simple and cost effective safe driving solution to manage and monitor their employee cell phone use.  For more information on this solution go to www.zoomsafer.com.