A recent study by the University of Kansas Transportation Research Institute claims that cell phone users are 5.36 times more likely to get in an accident than undistracted drivers. Evidence of this behavior is everywhere from the recent MBTA trolley crash in Boston to yesterday’s news about the University of Texas football player who was texting when he crashed into an apartment building. With limited means to ensure compliance and enforcement of legislation and corporate mandates, distracted driving continues to grow.

As part of its continued effort to enhance its existing IP portfolio and further strengthens their innovative safe driving solutions, ZoomSafer, Reston, Virginia, announced today, that they have acquired an existing U.S. patent and a number of U.S. and foreign pending patent applications related to safe driving technology. 

As previously reported, ZoomSafer’s patented technology activates automatically when driving, reminds users to be safe, and applies preferences to manage communications including suppressing unwanted calls, messages, and alerts as well as automatically notifying friends, family, co-workers, and social networks of their status and location.

This announcement is very timely given the number of states where new safe driving laws have just been implemented today including Virginia, Tennessee, Indiana, and Hawaii plus Connecticut starting next month.

“As a company based in the Commonwealth of Virginia, where new safe driving laws go into effect today, our technology will enable our neighbors, here and around the world, to drive less distracted,” said Michael Riemer, CEO of ZoomSafer.