New York eyes adopting ‘textalyzer’ in crash investigations

‘New York is considering allowing roadside police to test the ‘textalyzer’ in investigations to see if a driver was distracted by their cell phone in the wake of phone-related crashes.
Once plugged into a person’s phone for about a minute, the ‘textalyzer’ will indicate whether a motorist was texting, emailing, surfing the web or otherwise using his or her cell phone before a serious crash.
The device is called the ‘textalyzer’ because of its similarity to the Breathalyzer, which has been used for decades to identify drunk drivers.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo directed the Traffic Safety Committee on Wednesday to examine the technology, as well as questions about privacy and civil liberties its use would raise.
“Despite laws to ban cellphone use while driving, some motorists still continue to insist on texting behind the wheel – placing themselves and others at substantial risk,” Governor Cuomo said in a statement first reported by the Associated Press.’
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