'Texting Gun' in Development to Catch Texting Drivers in The Act

Sep 19, 2014 03:34 PM EDT | Matt Mercuro

A Virginia company is working on a radar-gun like device that could eventually help cops around the U.S. find people that break texting while driving laws.

The device would work by finding radio-frequencies emitted from a vehicle when someone inside is using a cellphone to text someone, said Malcolm McIntyre of ComSonics, the company working on the device, according to the Richmond Virginian-Pilot.

McIntyre said the frequencies used by texting were different enough from those used in calling and data downloads to make them different and detectable.

He added that though ComSonics devices were close to production, a number of barriers still remain, including testing with law enforcement.

ComSonics, which is based in Harrisonburg, V.A., started in the cable TV industry and provides calibration services for speed enforcement equipment, according to the paper.

The National Safety Council released a study in 2010 saying that of roughly 5.6 million crashes in the United States every year, 1.3 million, or 23 percent, involve a drivers talking on a phone or texting.

Several of these groups have used such data to call for a ban on cellphone use in vehicles.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that drivers using cellphones were linked to 385 deaths in 350 fatal crashes in 2011, and more than 50,000 other wrecks in its most recent estimate in April 2013.

Another, more recent study found that state texting bans could reduce crashes by a small amount, mainly among young drivers, but only if enforced as a primary offense.

"Very little is known about whether laws banning texting while driving have actually improved roadway safety," Alva O. Ferdinand, said, according to UAB.edu. "Further, given the considerable variation in the types of laws that states have passed and whom they ban from what, it was necessary to determine which types of laws are most beneficial in improving roadway safety."

Odds are most police departments will probably be interested to see what the device is capable of once ComSonics is ready to release the gun for testing.

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