User:Jthoggard/sandbox

Cellcontrol, also known as obdEDGE was founded in 2009 in Baton Rouge, La., and is a global provider of solutions that prevent texting and driving and other forms of distracted driving caused by mobile distractions behind the wheel. The company's patented technology also gathers data on speed, braking, cornering, phone usage, and other telematics style data, along with feedback for improvement, to strengthen driver performance. A CES Best of Innovation award recipient, the company’s patented distracted driving prevention platform and flagship product, DriveID, eliminates talking, texting, and browsing on any mobile device while a vehicle is in motion. Cellcontrol’s mobile device policy enforcement technology has also been recognized by Consumer Reports, and the National Traffic Safety Institute, as a solution for distracted driving, and is used by families and Fortune 500 companies worldwide.

Industry Background The proliferation of mobile devices is growing at a rate like never before; of the 8 billion people in the world, there are approximately 7 billion mobile phones. By 2015, over half of all internet activity was coming from mobile devices. The resulting connectivity is driving business, commerce, social interactions and life in general. In the U.S. alone, people check their mobile devices over 8 billion times a day. Meanwhile, the growth is similar with automobiles: at the end of 2015 there were 1.2 billion vehicles on the road, with the number expected to jump to 2 billion by 2035. The coalescence of these two factors, coupled with an inherent need or charge to stay connected at all times has created the latest epidemic on worldwide roadways—distracted driving. It’s resulting in some of the highest numbers of traffic accidents and fatalities in history. Traffic crashes, deaths and associated costs increased like never before in 2015, to a rate higher than 14% year over year. Each day in the U.S., more than eight people are killed and 1,161 injured as a result of distracted driving. people and kills nearly 430,000 people each year in the U.S., based on most recent reports. Crashes are the number one killer of teens age 16-19 in the U.S. In addition to the unprecedented loss of life, it’s also driving insurance rates up and profits down. Based on most recent USDOT numbers, distracted driving accounted for more than $129 billion in losses. This has driven the underwriting profit of companies like GEICO down more than 40%.

While it’s grown at an exponential rate more recently, the distracted driving market space formed, around 2008 and 2009, bolstered by social, governmental and commercial concerns, in response to several high-profile accidents caused by distracted driving.