App helps people not text while driving

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Approximately 25 percent of all fatal car accidents involve text messaging while driving. Studies have shown that text messaging while driving is more dangerous than driving drunk or talking on the phone. Already banned in 19 states and on Congress’ upcoming agenda, texting while driving is now a national concern.

Auto TextBak, a new application for BlackBerry Smartphones, enables users to easily set an away message that will automatically reply to incoming text or PIN messages. The application is currently available for a one-time fee of $2.99 through Auto TextBak's Web site or directly from your phone on the BlackBerry App World.

Auto TextBak was designed to help drivers focus on the road instead of their phone. Once downloaded, Auto TextBak allows users to set an away message on their phone, much like an out-of-office email response. Once set, the BlackBerry will send an automated reply to any text message that it receives indicating the phone user cannot currently respond. Drivers will no longer be distracted by incoming texts.

While the application was specifically designed to stop texting while driving, it can be used whenever the phone user is busy and cannot be interrupted.

Auto TextBak was created by Michael Fischman and David Goldman, two young professionals and avid text messagers.

"My roommate was constantly getting texts during his nap and would wake up frustrated at the amount of responses he needed to send," said David Goldman, co-creator of TextBak. "It got me thinking about how to solve that small issue and I soon realized that it could actually be a lifesaving tool."

In addition to auto responses, the Auto TextBak application has many additional features. The user can customize their away message, build an ignore list and check to whom Auto TextBak has responded.

The application icon turns from white to green to indicate that it is turned on and active. Auto TextBak logs all numbers each time it is activated and will not send more than one response to the same number. To download Auto TextBak, visit their Web site.

There does not seem to be a competition application for the iPhone.