Wall Entrepreneur Wants You To Keep Your Eyes On The Road

Tim Cody was really just tired of nearly colliding with distracted drivers who were more interested in their cell phones than watching the road.

So Cody, 24, decided to do something about it. Some months later, the Drive Alive smart phone application was launched.

It’s an application to be used by smart phone users to curb their use of their smart phones while driving. Seem counterintuitive?

Cody explains: Users turn on the app when they enter their vehicle and turn it off when they stop. Simple as that.

The app tracks the drive and whether the user has used the cell phone during the trip. If the cell phone is unused, the user earns rewards. If not, no bonus for you.

Cody, of Lenape Trail, says that his app’s Pavlovian approach, which rewards good behavior and ignores bad behavior, is directly opposite other apps directed at stopping distracted driving.

Other apps, he says, operate on a punishment theory and block cell phone use when a car is in motion. This is useful to parents or companies or those who want to prevent others from using their phones while driving, Cody says.

But not many people are going to put an app like that on their own phones, he says.

“Ours is a lot easier for people to swallow putting this on their phones,’’ he says.

Drive Alive is strictly a reward-based monitoring app. There is no punishment, and phones are not locked.

But the more you avoid using your phone while driving, the bigger the reward you can earn, says Cody, a 2005 graduate of .

Currently, there are cash rewards for drivers who keep their cell phones idle while driving. But Cody is in talks with Plymouth Rock insurance company – New Jersey’s 4th largest auto insurance company – to possibly begin offering car insurance discounts based on the number of miles users of Drive Alive log without using their phones.

Users are asked to enter their name, zip code, email address, and Paypal account address on first use of the app. Cash rewards are sent directly through Paypal, Cody says.

Since it was launched on Oct. 20, Drive Alive has been downloaded 120 times. Of those, Cody says, only about 22 people have used the app to earn rewards, however.

Others, he says, have used their phones while driving. The app monitors the speed at which a user is driving when the app is turned off, negating any reward credits the user may accumulate.

Cody keeps track of those users who are racking up the most non-distracted driving miles on his website – www.drivealiveapp.com -- and keeps a “Leader Board’’ of the top drivers.

As of Tuesday night, there were 94 hours of non-distracted driving using Cody's app. Just more than $130 has been paid out to 24 drivers.

“That’s a lot of safe driving for $100,’’ Cody says.

The Drive Alive app is currently available for free on the Android Market. An iPhone version is in the works, Cody says.

Eventually, Cody would like to see the fully functional app, with insurance discounts and other significant rewards in addition to cash bonuses available for a $5 download.