In an earlier post here on AutoConverse.com we posed the question, “Is Texting Just the Latest Driving Faux Pas in a Long Line of Driving Distractions?“. Whatever your opinion is, there are many people who believe, and even studies that show, texting while driving is extremely dangerous. Simon Chester over at MobileCrunch.com wrote an article on one recent study that claims texting while driving is responsible for 16,000 deaths in 6 years. Due to the danger, whether perceived or real, new products and services are being developed to help reduce the risk of texting while driving related accidents. One new product aims to reduce the risk while allowing you to still be social when you’re behind the wheel.

The OTTER App is a mobile application for your smart phone. OTTER allows you to control your text messages during times when you need to focus on other things, with one such usage being driving. You can customize an auto-responder to send out text messages to friends who text you while you’re in the car. This way your friends know that you’re not ignoring them, yet you don’t have to text them manually while you’re driving. Pretty cool, huh? Not only is the application really great, but the story behind it is even better.

Kathryn Goetzke over at PsychCentral.com wrote a really good piece on how Erik Wood, the developer of OTTER, spotted a growing issue in the marketplace and took action to help fill a need. Erik became aware of the growing issue of texting while driving firsthand when he saved his young daughters’ life behind their house. He and his three year old daughter were playing near an alley behind Erik’s house when he had to yank her in the air away from an oncoming car who had veered off the road and was headed straight for her. The driver was texting and never even knew she had come within inches of killing Erik’s daughter. The driver just kept right on going never even tapping the breaks…

Whether we like it or not, texting while driving is going on. If you’d like to curb your habit or the habit of your son or daughter then we highly recommend you check out OTTER app. Below is a YouTube video of Erik explaining how you can use OTTER:

As you saw in the video one really great feature is that parents can actually control their son or daughters texting habits while they are in a moving vehicle. According to Otterapp.com, OTTER gives parents the power “to control the texting habits of their teenage drivers with the first of its kind GPS / Parental Control Feature. Parents can enter a password and know that while their teen’s phone is in a moving vehicle, OTTER will silence all primary text notifications and auto-reply with an anti texting and driving message.”

We are really excited to announce that we will be interesting Erik in the coming weeks and we will be sure to add that video to this post. Stay tuned!

OTTER app is a great tool for helping to combat the dangers of texting while driving. It gives parents peace-of-mind while still allowing teens the ability to be social with their friends. And let’s face it, you and I could use it as well! Do you text and drive? Fess up below.