Looking for a little Feedback?

Aurora, Ontario.  August 30, 2012.  – Using a smartphone while driving is the last thing anyone would want to do to encourage safe driving techniques. But State Farm is encouraging the use of its Driver Feedback mobile app to help parents and their teenaged drivers learn safer driving techniques behind the wheel.

Driver Feedback is a free application now available in Canada for Android and iPhone devices that turns a person’s cell phone into a pocket-sized driving coach. Simply activate the app, leave the phone beside you inside your vehicle and drive. The app provides users with individual feedback about their driving habits and then offers tips on how people can drive more safely.

Research shows that hard acceleration, braking and cornering can increase the risk of a car crash. The Driver Feedback app uses the device’s accelerometer to measure all three of these essential driving behaviors.

At the end of each trip, the driver is provided a score and a log of potentially dangerous driving activities. If the app detects especially risky driving behaviours it provides the driver tips for improvement.

Key features of the new Driver Feedback app include:

• The ability to record trips and receive feedback on driving performance
• A map illustrating where potentially dangerous driving activities occurred
• The ability for drivers to compare their scores, or track the progress of an individual driver
• A trip completion notification allowing a driver to send a text or email to someone when they safely complete their trip
• Multi-trip average scores (up to five) to track progress

Teaching Tool for Parents
Driver Feedback is particularly useful for parents teaching teens how to drive. It offers teen drivers and their parents access to useful non-biased driving feedback, to help families have constructive conversations about safe driving. In addition, the app can be a useful and objective tool to help assess a teen’s readiness for independent driving. Experienced drivers may benefit from Driver Feedback too as it can help identify problem areas, providing drivers of any age with useful tips to help reduce the risk of crashes.

Driver Feedback Multimedia
Please see these videos for a demonstration of the Driver Feedback app:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG6rwvIQL0Y&lr=1
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO9bbTGhL0c

Frequently Asked Questions: http://www.statefarm.ca/about/mobile/driver-feedback/

Download Driver Feedback

Driver Feedback can be downloaded here -
http://www.statefarm.ca/about/mobile/driver-feedback/android/
http://www.statefarm.ca/about/mobile/driver-feedback/iphone/

For more information about State Farm mobile applications visit -
http://www.statefarm.ca/about/mobile/

About State Farm®

State Farm has been serving Canadians since 1938. State Farm and its affiliates are the fourth largest auto insurance provider, and the seventh largest property and casualty insurer in Canada. In addition to providing affordable car insurance rates, State Farm has more than 525 Canadian agents and 1300 employees providing insurance and financial services including mutual funds, life insurance, vehicle loans, critical illness, disability, home and auto insurance to our customers in Ontario, Alberta and New Brunswick. For more information, please visit www.statefarm.ca, join us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, or see us on YouTube.