Plan B Forum

A group of US senators has asked smart phone firms to cease distributing apps said to enable drivers who have been drinking to avoid police checkpoints.

Four Democrats wrote to the executives at Apple, Google and Research in Motion, which makes Blackberry devices.

The applications are said to enable users to alert one another to locations where police are stopping motorists.

The senators said the apps put innocent people at risk and asked the companies to remove them from online stores.

In cities and towns across the US, police set up checkpoints at which they aim to catch motorists who have been drinking.

Those suspected of driving while drunk are required to submit to an alcohol test if requested.

"Giving drunk drivers a free tool to evade checkpoints, putting innocent families and children at risk, is a matter of public concern," Senators Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, Harry Reid of Nevada, Charles Schumer of New York and Tom Udall of New Mexico wrote.

The letter was addressed to Google chief executive Eric Schmidt, Research in Motion's James Balsillie and Michael Lazaridis, and Scott Forstall, an Apple executive in charge of iPhone software.

Google makes the open-source Android software used in several devices that compete with the Apple iPhone.

The letter cited apps with as many as 10 million users which purport to offer a database of police checkpoints that is updated in real-time.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12835846

Crackpot wrote:If i wasn't for MADD I'd agree with you BSG. THe rules nowadays are just so draconian that I'd want to avoid those things at all costs no mater what I had to drink (and because it's an inconvienence) or not.