Mom's App Gets Kids' Hands off Phone and on the Wheel

Talking and texting while driving can be especially dangerous for teens. Until now.

How can you keep your teen from texting or talking on the phone while driving?  A Darien mother says she has the solution.

Darcy Ahl developed iZup, the first product from her Illume Software, she tells the Connecticut Post.

It's a software program that works on smart phones with GPS. The GPS detects the speed of the phone in a moving vehicle and when it reaches 5 miles per hour, the phone shuts down the handset and forwards all messages and texts for later retrieval. Missed calls and messages appear when the car comes to a full stop.

Ahl tells the newspaper she got the idea in 2006 when her son first got his driver's license. The two were on I-95 when he swerved across the road trying to retrieve a ringing cell phone in his pocket. Nothing happened, but Ahl says it was clear to her that something needed to be done.

A 2007 study by Nationwide Insurance found drivers ages 16-24 were more likely than any other age group to use an electronic device while driving.

The iZup will be available online next month for $4.95 a month or $49.95 a year.

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