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New smartphone app offers drivers free coffee if they ignore their phones

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BY KEVIN SAWYER – A recent innovation by a couple of Japanese companies hopes to cut down on distracted driving in the country as well as the number of accidents caused by it. The companies have released a phone app that offers free coffee to drivers who refuse to look at their phone for at least 100 kilometers (62 miles) at a whack.

In the last dozen or so years, the Aichi Prefecture in Japan has suffered 443,691 traffic accidents that have resulted in serious injury or death and over 50,000 of them were the result of people being distracted by their cell phones. While the government seems at a typical loss as to what to do about cell phone addiction and distracted driving, three Japanese companies, including Toyota, have come up with a possible solution.

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Don’t touch your phone for at least 100 kilometers and you can download a discount coupon for free coffee. The smartphone’s gyro allows the app to know if the phone has been moved and the built in GPS system keeps track of the driver’s mileage. The app is called Driving Barista and when it determines that a driver has successfully gone 100 kilometers without touching their phone, the driver can drive into any locations of the national Japanese coffee chain, Komeda Coffee, for a free cup of their choice.

If you try and cheat by attempting to adjust the app, the counter will automatically reset to zero miles. Toyota has made public announcements that the trials have been a huge success thus far and they hope to extend the app program to the entire country in the near future.

PHOTO CREDITS: Driving Barista