Smartphones, such as those produced by Apple, have apps that allow users to do everything from online banking, to tracking stocks, to playing games and more. A few controversial apps, however, allow users to identify and locate drunk driving checkpoints. Users are able to avoid these checkpoints and the potential charges and fines that come from driving drunk through apps that alert them to the location. This is going to be harder in the near future, however, as Apple, one of the leading producers of Smartphones, has banned these apps.
This move comes because of the work of four Democratic senators, Harry Reid of Nevada, Tom Udall of New Mexico, Charles Schumer of New York, and Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, who have asked three Smartphone manufacturers, including Apple, to stop selling apps for this purpose or to remove the DUI checkpoint function altogether from the phones.
In response to the work of these senators, Research in Motion, who manufactures the BlackBerry phones, pulled the apps immediately. Apple and Google, who make the iPhone and Android apps respectively, did not act as quickly.
That changed in June, when Apple changed its App Store guidelines. The new guidelines now read, "Apps which contain DUI checkpoints that are not published by law enforcement agencies, or encourage and enable drunk driving, will be rejected." Google has not yet made any changes.
Lawmakers, however, did not feel that Apple went far enough. While new apps will be rejected, the company has not taken action as of yet to remove the apps that are currently out there. Lawmakers feel that this might enable more drunk drivers to escape law enforcement officials.
Will Google follow suit? Lawmakers hope so, but only time will tell. It only took three months for Apple and Research in Motion to begin making changes, so it is possible Google will also follow in their footsteps, but for now, those who use BlackBerrys or iPhones are going to have a harder time avoiding sobriety checkpoints.
