BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP MAY 26 - JUNE 1, 2017 13 TEXTALYZERS CAN HELP SAVE LIVES While I am proud of my record sponsoring several of the best bills combating distracted driving, a er hearing the story of how 19-year-old Evan Lieberman was killed, I knew my job wasn’t done. I realized that police and the legal system are not prepared to deal with this new national epidemic properly. Phones and phone records are rarely investigated. This is hard to believe because it defi es common sense, but there are reasons. Police are instructed to avoid the phone for privacy reasons and despite popular belief, phone records are di cult to obtain. Since the National Highway Trafic Safety Authority reported that a texting driver is fi ve times more dangerous than a drunk driver and the AAA Foundation reported that 67 percent of drivers manipulate phones, shouldn’t that toxic mix cause a huge number of crashes? Well, in 2014 there were 254,829 crashes and of those quarter-million crashes, a mere 64 were reported as caused by texting and driving. We may have laws that make the behavior illegal but it’s too di cult to prove when someone does damage. It has become a nameless and faceless crime. I worked with advocates and a leading tech company to develop technology that can address this problem. We were determined to balance privacy concerns with public safety. The technology became known as the Textalyzer and acts in a similar manner as the Breathalyzer. Then, I sponsored legislation to implement the technology. The Textalyzer is a way to investigate the cause of a crash respectfully. The phone would never leave the drivers’ hands and the results are generated in FOR MORE NEWS, VISIT www.brooklynreporter.com roughly 90 seconds. Opponents of the Textalyzer are promoting several myths, which encourage a dangerous false sense of security. One myth is that the Textalyzer is unnecessary since police can always check phone records. The truth: phone record logs merely report texting and phone calls. E-mail, web browsing and apps like Facebook are all Internet-related and won’t appear in phone reports. This renders phone records useless for determining if a driver was using those other popular distractive activities. Additionally, in most states, warrants are not easy to obtain and neither are mobile phone records. Another myth is that the Textalyzer is an invasion of privacy. In fact, evaluating the crash can be done without accessing personal data. The technology does not reveal the content of the messages, phone numbers or any other private matter. Notably, the Textalyzer will distinguish between legal hands-free device use versus illegally typing and swiping. Also, if a passenger were using the driver’s phone at the time of a crash, this would not be implicated as the cause. I believe we have found a balance of interests by monitoring a device’s usage instead of its content, via the Textalyzer. I don’t want to be responsible for violating anyone’s privacy rights, but I also don’t want to get another call like the one I got about Evan — the call that every parent dreads. I don’t want to see loved ones perish. I’m sure you don’t either. Assemblymember Felix Ortiz represents the 51st A.D. in Sunset Park, Red Hook, Boro Park, Gowanus, Bay Ridge and Park Slope. BK SNAP S BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN. Photo by Tom Hilton Send us your photos of Brooklyn and you could see them online or in our paper. Submit them to us via Instagram, Twitter and Facebook by using the hashtag #HRPix; or email them to [email protected]. GUEST OPED THE HOT TOPIC STORY: Southern Brooklyn pols, residents blast MTA pilot program eliminating nighttime station cleaners along R line SUMMARY: In a move that southern Brooklyn straphangers say only adds insult to injury, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has decided to nix its overnight station cleaners at six R train stations in the borough as part of a new pilot program. Our readers -- many of whom are already ticked off at the agency’s apparent lack of commitment to this end of the borough -- were quick to react. REACH: 2,630 (as of 5/2217) BY ASSEMBLYMEMBER FELIX ORTIZ
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