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New App Saves Lives of Teen Drivers(PR Web Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Columbia, SC (PRWEB) November 14, 2012 App reviewers: Need a code for a free evaluation copy Contact Jani Spede (see below). A new smartphone app helps parents protect the lives of their teens by providing alerts when teens engage in life-threatening use of smartphones while behind the wheel. As the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) added distracted driving to its 2013 “most-wanted list” today, 52apps announced Canary, a smartphone app designed to reduce distracted driving and keep teens alive. Canary – available for iPhones and Android phones – is the first smartphone app that approaches the fatal distracted driving epidemic by enabling parents to monitor teens’ smartphone use in real time. Like the historic canary in a coal mine, the Canary app raises an alarm to parents when their teens are doing dangerous things, such as texting while driving, moving at unsafe speeds, traveling outside an area parents have defined as safe or violating curfew. Parents can receive messages via the app installed on their own phones and by email, with complete details of their teens’ activities – including a list of their call volumes, locations and driving speeds – which Canary logs for later review. In 2010, 3,092 people died in the United States in crashes involving distracted driving. The National Safety Council estimates that at least 24 percent of crashes in 2010 involved drivers talking or texting on cell phones. Canary gives parents a proactive tool to help teens make the safest decisions and avoid tragedies. ABOUT CANARY • Canary provides immediate alerts to parents when teens: o Activate their smartphones while traveling faster than 12 mph o Text while traveling faster than 12 mph o Talk on the phone while traveling faster than 12 mph o Exceed speed limits • Canary also sends alerts when teens travel into an area parents have set as restricted, or outside an area parents have defined as safe • Canary notifies parents if a teen violates a parent-established curfew • Canary logs the date, time and location when the above actions occur • Parents are notified if a teen disables Canary • Canary doesn’t block use of the phone. Parents are able to contact their teens via Canary-protected phones at any time • 52apps plans to set aside a portion of all proceeds from the sale of Canary for distracted driving awareness and education programs AVAILABILITY • Canary is available for iPhones running iOS version 5.1 or newer and for Android phones running version 2.3.5 or newer • Links available for download on http://www.thecanaryproject.com • Price includes installation on an unlimited number of phones QUOTES “I love that this app helps parents proactively protect teens. Canary will make a big difference in preventing distracted driving tragedies like the one in which we lost our daughter, Alex.” – Jeanne Brown, a well-known crusader against distracted driving who lost her daughter at 17 in a crash that involved texting and driving “This (electronics-related distracted driving) is becoming the new DUI. It's becoming epidemic.” – Robert Sumwalt, member, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), at an NTSB hearing, Dec. 13, 2011 “We believe that technology like Canary will be a tool in changing driving behaviors, while giving parents a voice to encourage open communication with their teenagers to ensure they understand the consequences of their actions and that they are making good driving decisions.” – Brooke Russell, executive director, South Carolina Chapter, National Safety Council “A teen using a cell phone in a moving car is like a teen carrying a loaded gun. It's that dangerous. Stopping teens from risking their own and others’ lives takes a lot more than pledges or even legislation. This is the app parents have been waiting for.” – Steve Leight, CEO, 52apps VIDEOS • The Brown family discusses the crash in which 17-year-old Alex Brown died • Canary tutorials ABOUT 52APPS Every week, 52apps turns an idea from the public into an iPhone or iPad app and launches it. 52apps – based in Columbia, S.C. – developed a proprietary framework to create, test and launch high-quality apps quickly. The company hosts "App Idea Days" as public forums where anyone can submit ideas. 52Apps shares revenue from apps with the idea generators. The company’s individual apps have received as many as 500,000 downloads. For more information, visit http://www.52apps.com. Connect with 52 apps on Facebook and follow the company on Twitter: @52appsTeam. MEDIA CONTACT Jani Spede Jani Spede Public Relations 866-923-9980 jspede(at)spedepr(dot)com Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/11/prweb10131745.htm (c) 2012 PRWEB.COM Newswire |