Afraid your loved ones might text and drive? **Install** a new smartphone app to **stop** them from doing it.

The Drive Safe Mode app works by using GPS technology to determine whether or not you are in a moving vehicle. If you are, it will prevent you from sending a text. Simple as that.

There other similar apps on the market which offer services that attempt to prevent people from texting and driving, but they all share the same problem: Drivers can remove them if they want to.

That’s the problem with distracted driving. It’s not an accident wrought by circumstance, or a moment of impaired decision making because you are under the influence of drugs or alcohol. It is a conscious decision a driver makes to take their attention off the road in front of them and focus instead on their handheld device. In the few seconds (or longer) it takes for them to type and send a text message any number of obstacles could appear in the road in front of them. If they do not see these obstacles, they cannot avoid them.

Distracted driving is now the single greatest cause of driving fatalities in the United States, surpassing even the number of fatal crashes caused by driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. It is also difficult to control as there is no way for police to administer a test to see whether or not you are inclined to allow a text message to interfere with your driving.

A number of states, 36 to be exact, have already enacted bans on texting while driving, in an effort to curb the use of cell phones by drivers. These laws often empower police to stop motorists they see using their handheld devices while driving and issue citations. Every state is different, however, and even these bans do little to address the problem that seems to afflict more drivers every day: simple stupidity.