A patent covering driving safety technology has been awarded to inthinc Technology Solutions Inc. According to an announcement made by inthinc, the driving safety covered by the patent is related to cell phone and text detection. inthinc is a company focused on telematics, fleet management solutions and driving safety.

To make a significant impact in reducing distracted driving has been the company’s initiative. Driver behavior has been dramatically improved with inthinc technology. An 80 percent drop in accidents has been documented with the use of inthinc. Technology that detects cell phone usage while a vehicle is in motion is covered by the patent as part of the company’s initiative. The driver is also coached to not to use a cell phone while driving in real time. Web-based reports of cell phone use and texting-while-driving activity will be provided to vehicle owners or commercial fleet managers. Vehicle operation data or telematics and call data records will be combined to provide these reports.

Drivers are notified in real time of unsafe driving behavior by the driving safety solutions from inthinc which will be available later this year. These include notifications for speeding, hard braking, hard turning and other aggressive driving activities. Innovative approaches to combat distracted driving will be offered by the next inthinc product advancement with the help of this distracted driving prevention technology.

A patent covering technology used to identify vehicles exceeding the posted speed limit has also been awarded to inthinc. Currently used as part of inthinc products waySmart, tiwiPro and tiwiFamily, this technology can also identify various other driving violations. When posted speed limits are exceeded, verbal warnings in real time are given by inthinc’s product to coach the drivers. An average drop of 90 percent across the company’s customer base has been reported in speed violation through inthinc technology.

In a release, Todd Follmer, CEO of inthinc Technology Solutions (News - Alert) said, “Our goal is to reduce risky driving behavior by developing technologies that change driver behavior. If we can improve driver behavior, we can eliminate some of the tragic outcomes related to aggressive or distracted driving.”