by Tim Ruiz on April 13, 2010
Without a doubt, the big change that motor safety advocates and politicians alike are pushing is the elimination of texting while driving. One statistic attributes one out of six fatal traffic accidents to texting while driving, and a new public service announcement campaign eerily echoes the “Just Say No” campaign. Online transport marketplace uShip is embracing the trend by offering truckers the ability to set up their AT&T phones through the uShip Tracking Center to deliver regular and hands-free updates to customers, encouraging driver safety and the minimization of dangerous multitasking.
uShip is partnering with mobile location company WaveMarket to expand the uShip Tracking Center to include the locating of post-paid AT&T phones, enabling the company to track the real-world locations of both AT&T and Sprint phones. The alliance with WaveMarket will enable drivers to be tracked without the need to download Apps to an individual phone. Instead, the driver activates “location” through the uShip Tracking Center on his or her uShip account.
Drivers will also be able to post manual location updates as well as “Facebook-style” status updates to their uShip profiles. This new ability is sure to improve worker efficiency as well as offer increased convenience to consumers waiting for their belongings. Research from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) shows that drivers who text while driving take their eyes off the road an average of 4.6 out of every 6 seconds while texting.
This move by uShip is not just safe, but it’s also very smart business as it shows a wise concern for employee and public safety and will likely result in better service for consumers. Now, customers will be empowered to plan their schedules around the deliveries they are waiting on and continue to be productive, while drivers can focus on simply driving.
