7A - Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

7A - Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

Distracted Driving

• Opportunity: 
• Every day, thousands of Americans are subject to the consequences of distracted when they get into their cars because either they choose to drive distracted, however their is not currently a technology that can detour this from happening
• The who: All Americans who get into the car
• The what: They are victims of distracted driving 
• The why: The use of cell phones while driving take a drivers attention and place it on something or than controlling the vehicle
• Testing the who: People all around the world experience the effects of distracted driving, including Americans. While it is easy to pinpoint a specific "who" that causes accidents while driving, drivers who are on their cell phones, this does not mean that they are the only people who can be effected as their fellow passengers can be along with other people driving and their passengers can be potential victims.  
• Testing the what: Cell phones by themselves a are a great thing for communicating, entertaining, and educating. However, when somebody decides to use their cell phone while driving this is when they become dangerous. When the vehicle is moving and on the roadways this is when distracted driving becomes dangerous, which occurs because the high speed and level of difficulty that are involved when driving are too much for the brain to handle when distracted by something else.
• Testing the why: Why people consciously make the choice each and every day to drive distracted blows my mind. Our current society relies on the individual to make the choice to not use their phone while driving. I think that the opportunity here is to create a type of technology in the phone that temporarily disables it while you are driving. 

• Interview #1: For this interview I ask a teenage male about the topic. It was interesting to find that he himself was very educated on the topic of distracted driving. He was well aware of the negative consequences that went along with it. Yet, he did admit that despite the potential consequences he still uses his phone while driving. He though that a technology feature that disabled his phone while he was driving might be a good way for him to stay more focused on the roadways.
• Interview #2: For this interview I asked a teenage female about this topic. I interviewed her to get her perspective because teenage females are statistically the most likely to drive distracted. She felt like a technology of this kind would be ideal to help her and her friends from using their phones while driving. However, she expressed concern for implement such a technology because she felt like it would be hard for the government to mandate such a feature in all cell phones.
• Interview #3: I wanted to Interview an parent of a teenager to get their perspective on this opportunity. They mentioned that their biggest fear as a parent is getting a phone call saying that their child has been injured. They felt like is a technology like the one stated above, that disables a phone while driving, they would 100% make sure that their child had this technology downloaded on their phone to ensure safety. 
• Interview #4: This interview was conducted with a middle aged male that has no kids. He felt like distracted driving a problem that effects people his age as well, not solely just children. As a traveling salesmen he is on his phone a lot talking to customers and securing deals throughout the day. He admitted that he emails, calls, and texts all while driving because it is what his job requires to be successful. He felt like even though some people say distracted driving is dangerous that he was a good enough driver to use his phone while driving and still control his vehicle properly. 
• Interview #5: This interviewee was someone of an older age with children and now grandchildren who drive. While they themselves are not a person who uses a phone while driving they did state the the amount of people they see out on the roads looking on their phones was staggering. They feel like the new generation needs to have something put in place to stop them from driving distracted and using their phones.

• Given your interviews, what do you know about the opportunity that you didn't know before? 
• I would say that overall I had a pretty good idea of the need for something that helps to reduce the amount of people that drive distracted. I was surprised to hear the amount of interviewees that knowingly drive distracted despite the potential consequences that can happen.
• I feel like after the interviews it allowed me to see that such a technology might be a good idea to help reduce the amount of people that drive distracted.