It's a statistically proven fact that many of the car accidents that occur worldwide are caused by drivers talking on their mobile phones instead of focusing on the road ahead. For this reason, several countries around the world have begun to take serious legal measures against this phenomenon, but it seems that the threat of tickets or fines is still no match for the people's desire to communicate while they're behind the wheel.

However, in the near future, things might turn around completely, since, as LiveScience informs us, a team of scientists from the University of Utah, made of Xuesong Zhou, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, and Wally Curry, a University of Utah graduate now practicing medicine, has developed a new type of automobile ignition key that will be able to block all mobile phone calls within the respective vehicle.

Dubbed Key2SafeDriving, the device relies on Bluetooth or RFID technologies to connect to a mobile phone. In order to turn on the engine, users will first have to either slide the key out or push a button to release it. At that exact moment, the key will send a signal to the driver's cell phone, placing it in what's described as “driving mode,” when calls can't be taken or made, and a big “Stop” sign appears on the main display.

Of course, users will still be able to call certain pre-set numbers (including, obviously, the 911 emergency services) and, more importantly, the phone will provide an automatic reply message to the person who tries to contact the driver.

While this technology is not yet mass-produced, that's very likely to happen in the near future, since the University of Utah has already licensed it to a local company, and it is now working to manufacture and commercialize it.


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