Help Stop Distracted Driving With OneTap

Let me tell you a story from this past summer. I was driving on the highway when I noticed that the pickup truck in front of me was weaving in and out of the lane. My first thought was that the person may have been drinking, so I pulled two lanes over just to stay out of harms way. The next thing I saw was the truck smash into the cement median, fishtail and continue driving.

At this point curiosity got the best of me and I caught up to the truck to see what was going on. As I glanced over I was shocked to see that not only had the driver smashed into the wall because he was typing something on his phone, but also that he was STILL doing something on his phone and not looking at the road! Needless to say, I got as far away from this guy as possible.

This is not to say that I am perfect by any means. We’ve all glanced down at a text or answered the phone while driving, mostly because it’s so accessible to do so. In fact, according to a 2014 RCMP Traffic Services report, the leading cause of fatal crashes in Canada over the past five years is distracted driving, contributing to 33% of these accidents. Well, Canadian owned company, App Colony, wanted to help change that, so they developed OneTap, a breakthrough new app for Android phones (IOS version coming soon), proudly supported by The Co-operators Group, that will stop distracted driving in its tracks. Now, driving safely takes #JustOneTap.

How It Works

Acting as your ‘personal assistant’ on the go, OneTap uses the built-in GPS on your phone to know when you’re in a vehicle and driving. Once you get going, OneTap is automatically enabled, blocking out pings, rings and other notifications that pull our attention away the road. Unlike other solutions on the market though, when a text comes in, OneTap doesn’t just block the alert. Instead, its Auto-Reply function replies to calls and texts immediately, letting people know that you’re driving and when you expect to be finished. One2One™ urgent connect technology notifies you when there’s an urgent message, allowing you to pull over and safely respond.

Another cool feature is that when you connect to friends and family through OneTap, you will be able to see where your loved ones are and if they are driving. And don’t worry, privacy settings within the app can be adjusted to ensure information is only shared with individuals selected by the user.

I can’t think of a good reason to not at least try out the OneTap app. If you are interested in more information, you can go to the OneTap Website or you can install the app from the Google Play Shop!