This year at its Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) Apple seemed to finally be back on the cutting edge of technology. That’s not to say that Apple has exactly fallen behind, but there was an obvious sigh of relief from many tech journalists when it came to the do-not-disturb-while-driving function.

Most people will admit that we have a problem in this country with texting and driving. The issue is prevalent from teens to baby boomers. Even though most states ban the use of cell phones while driving and that we hear all to often that people are frequently killed in distracted driving accidents in the United States in 2015 with an additional 391,000 injured — we still do it. We still check our Twitter and Facebook feeds and we still reply to emails and texts with “on the way”.

This is just plain stupid (not to mention ironic) and many companies are working technology into their products to help us control this idiotic obsession with having patience. There was a time when we had no communication options in our cars and while I’m not suggesting the roads were safer then, there was at least one less distraction. Even if you are using voice-to-text, that still causes your eyes and attention to not be on the road. With this iOS 11 update, Apple is providing a solution. All we need to do is use it.

Do you really want your last words to be I’m on the way, or an emoji? Or the reason you are being charged with vehicular manslaughter is that you had to get through your Snapchat feed before the next intersection?

The do-not-disturb-while-driving feature will enable users to set up auto-texts to tell whomever is texting you that you are driving and will get back to them. But as we know the real issue stems from feeling the inherent need to reply right away, as if there is no way the other end of the communication can wait for the reply more than one minute.

Our mobile devices already have do-not-disturb functions, but they are not specific to texting while driving

So, the question is will we use it? Apple is making it possible for our culture to change… something they are quite use to accomplishing, but just because the feature exists doesn’t mean that people will be enable it. Somehow telling people they can’t text and drive, is some sort of personal confinement. Phones are clearly a distraction while driving. The statistics prove this.

We salute Apple for adding a very simple feature to its mobile operating system to tackle a very serious and deadly issue.  If you’re like so many people in our culture and you text and drive — Apple just made it easier for some of you to not die with your phone in your hand. All you have to do is use it.]

Source: MacRumors – Fox