A group of middle schoolers in Buck County, PA have devised TEXTerminator, an automobile device that will shut down a user's phone in order to prevent distracted driving. The TEXTerminator would use electronic signaling to block a phone's texting functions after the phone has been specially programmed.  Two Subaru engineers advised the student team on design and electronics.

The students are taking part in a contest from the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation in which middle school students come up with scientific solutions to a problem. They will present a possible prototype of their product and give a multimedia presentation in which they will discuss the effects of texting while driving.  Although the students' work is impressive, there are some issues with their solution.  Blocking cell phone signals is illegal in the U.S. under the Communications Act of 1934.; the FCC considers it "theft of the airwaves".  That doesn't stop people from doing it, however,

One of the students, Isabella DeLuca, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that her team chose the issue of distracted driving because "it affects the most people and can help families and save lives."

As 13-year-old Alyssa Sullivan put it, "I think you'd rather have your phone shut off than be dead in a car accident.