By Tommy Stuart

Text messaging while driving is a danger many people are drawn in to.

This problem has become so rampant that Heath Ahrens, founder of iSpeech.org, decided to help alleviate the situation by creating DriveSafe.ly.

D Monkey Getting Your Ex Girlfriend Back riveSafe.ly is a mobile application program that runs on smartphones, which reads texts and e-mails aloud in real time.

“Unfortunately, peoples’ lives are put at risk by distracted driving every time we text or e-mail while operating a vehicle,” Ahrens said.  “We developed DriveSafe.ly to allow people to stay connected via text messages and e-mails, but to do so in a responsible and safe way.”

In addition to reading text messages and e-mails aloud, DriveSafe.ly also features an optional customizable “auto-responder” that will respond to messages without physical input from the user.

“The problem of texting while driving is already huge and steadily growing,” Ahrens said. “With the advent of mobile e-mail and text messaging, people are constantly reading and typing messages out on their mobile device, even while behind the wheel.”

According to a study conducted by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institution, a driver who is texting is 23 times more likely to be involved in an accident.

“We’re pretty much for anything that makes the roads safer,” said UK Police Captain of Support Services Kevin Franklin.  “This program sounds beneficial from what I’ve heard, but the best way is to stop doing anything while driving.”

The free download, available on the company’s Web site, features a female voice and reads 25-word messages, while the premium download features male and female voices and reads 500-word messages.

The free download may also include advertisements at the beginning or end of messages.  The premium download can be purchased for a one-time fee or on a subscription basis.

DriveSafe.ly is available for smartphones running on Google Android, Blackberry 4.5 or higher and will soon be available for Symbian, Windows Mobile and iPhone (with beta versions available for the latter two operating systems).

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