Cell Phone Usage incentive on insurance

[bpaikman]

We have our automobile insurance with USAA and they have enrolled us in a 'safe pilot' program.
You install their app, I'll call it SPAand It monitors your cell phone usage while driving. You start with a two week learning period, And then they begin clocking you. They supposedly give you discounts on your insurance if you have a good score. Our first round - no discount, haha.
We thought we were very responsible with cell phones, but WOW. Sure, there are a few minor glitches with detection - we ride together a lot, and both our phones have the app - I suspect that it can't tell which one is driving, and who's navigating. It does have a "I'm not driving" button.
What we finally decided is the best way to have perfect scores is ....duh... put the cell phones AWAY, turn on 'do not disturb' when either of us is driving. That means we have to go the old-fashioned way - actually plan even the short trips before starting, and pull over and stop if we have to make adjustments.
I didn't think I use the phone unless I'm stopped, but I might tap the screen at a stoplight, for example, and yup, the SPA detects this. Creepy in a way.
If I'm honest with myself, I remember the pre-cell era, and I planned a lot better.
Cell phones are wonderful inventions - I feel much safer having one, but I think we're not quite as organized pre-trip as we used to be. And my husband at the grocery store! Texting me "This one? or that one" with pictures.
I look at drivers in town, and on the highways, and I can SEE that at least 1/4 of them are using cell phones while driving. Probably closer to half of them. It used to be that if I saw someone driving erratically, I would think 'drunk or on drugs'... now I think 'cell phone'.
I've been hit twice by people I suspect were using cell phones at the time, because it was so stupid! One rear-ended at a stoplight, another backed into me in a parking lot although I was laying on the horn.
Anyhow, rant over, but that app has been a great wake-up call for a 'responsible user'.

 

[Neal]

Nice job! Yeah, I gave up road bike riding years ago due to distracted drivers and people getting hit and killed. Okay, that was more of an excuse to not do it but it's legit, right? I have done much better now using CarPlay where I can just plug in my phone and stow it and use the CarPlay integration for calls, navigation, etc. That has helped me to keep my paws off of it 98% of the time. I learned early not to touch the phone in the RV as I did so a few times and sure enough, well, you know the story. I have CarPlay in my RV via the Pioneer dash radio I installed so I have the same capability there.

It is a good practice to learn but sadly many out there other than you are not. It should be legal to rear end people at traffic lights not going when the light turns green as they are looking at their phone. I need that train horn in my car!

 

[bpaikman]

I have not yet figured out if the safe pilot app can detect CarPlay - I will be making a three hour trip today and will be using CarPlay in a rental car and I'm curious to see if SafePilot detects anything

 

[FL-JOE]

If using Carplay would be off the table then I guess I'm not going to be trying for any insurance discounts. Except for the mapping not knowing I am 13'3" tall, it is what my iphone is plugged into every time I am in the drivers seat of my F350, no matter if I am towing or not.

Talking about train horns, my buddy and I just had air horns installed on our Harleys. They are VERY loud. For the past couple years in Florida whenever we are in congested areas my left hand has one finger always on the horn button. It seems like a strange way to ride but it is just another survival tool of the driving times we live in.

 

["EZ"]

I'm a big Carplay fan too! Apple maps is MUCH better than the maps in the Ram or Jeep products that I own. Also better than the Google maps on my wife's phone. Her map has sent us off roading on more than one occasion!

Joe, I've had air horns on all my bikes for the past decade. I've woken up MANY drivers changing lanes on top of me or pulling out in front of me from a parking lot, etc. Stay safe brother!