State Farm app scores driving and offers feedback

Regular readers may remember the Anti Sleep Pilot app, which aims to help prevent fatigue-related car accidents. Taking the idea further, State Farm’s new Driver Feedback app scores the user’s driving and offers feedback to make it safer. Illinois-based insurer State Farm is no stranger to the world of mobile apps, having already introduced one to help customers file claims. Now hoping to reduce some of the need for claims, however, the company has rolled out another to help drivers be safer on the road. Recognizing the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s assertion that three of the riskiest driving behaviors are hard acceleration, hard deceleration and hard swerves, the new Driver Feedback app focuses on helping drivers avoid them. The app’s accelerometer recording technology measures the user’s acceleration, braking and cornering and then awards a score for each along with an overall score for each trip. Next, it offers tips to make driving safer the next time. Trips can be compared against each other using the Driver Feedback app, and results can be shared via email and SMS. The app also supports multiple users. State Farm does not collect the trip information, it stresses, nor does it use the data recorded to adjust the user’s insurance rates. The free Driver Feedback app is available for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Cellphones may be a hazard for drivers under some conditions, but in others they could be a life-saver — quite literally. Mobile entrepreneurs: what could you add? (Related: iPhone app sends safety alert if you don’t arrive on time — Toyota’s glass of water app aims to help drivers reduce emissions — App delivers location-based info from drivers to drivers.) Spotted by: Katherine Noyes