TextKills Tour Rolls into Los Angeles to Support Nike Basketball 3on3 Tournament Outreach at L.A. Live

LAGUNA HILLS, Calif., Aug. 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Iconosys, Inc., the company that developed SMS Replier™ and DriveReply,™ --the Smartphone safety app that combats the growing social epidemic of distracted driving -- announced today that the TextKills™ Tour will make its next stop at the Nike Basketball 3on3 event at L.A. Live on August 6th and 7th. Iconosys is an official festival partner of the event, and Iconosys CEO Wayne Irving II will be on hand to educate attendees about the dangers of distracted driving.

The TextKills Tour takes the message of distracted driving to schools and events around the country, raising awareness of the risks associated with this addictive behavior. In a 2010 bus tour stretching across the country from Southern California to its final destination in Washington, D.C., the TextKills Tour Bus visited 26 colleges, three high schools, and countless safety/street fairs with the Los Angeles Police Department and California Highway Patrol, eventually collecting nearly 20,000 signatures as part of the "Sign the Bus" pledge to refrain from texting while driving.

"The crowd at Nike Basketball 3on3 (nike3on3.com) will no doubt be inspired and impressed by the competition and entertainment, but they'll also appreciate the chance to learn more about road safety and California laws covering distracted driving," said Wayne Irving, CEO of Iconosys and founder of the TextKills Tour. "There's a good reason the US Department of Transportation calls texting the 'most alarming' form of driver distraction. We want everyone at the event to have a great time and to text their friends all about it, but we also know the potentially dire consequences of texting while driving."

Iconosys is donating $2 from every sale of a special "Collegiate Version" of SMS Replier™ to FocusDriven.org.  This special Collegiate Version of the app, which is designed for use with Android OS devices, will be made available, to pledgers and anyone else wishing to support this campaign through purchase at Iconosys' TextKills.com website for a one-time donation of only $4.99. This app is regularly priced at $19.95.

Iconosys has developed a number of driver-assistance and driver-safety Smartphone apps, including but not limited to MyMaxSpeed™, DriveReply™, SMSReplier™, My Roadside Attendant™, My Insurance Attendant™, and TripTrack Mileage Reporter™.  You can see them all (and more) here at: http://safety.iconosys.com.

"We believe laws help reinforce good habits, but we also have to educate everyone who fails to understand the serious risks and as our corporate mission want to give people the technology tools to reduce distraction," added Irving. "That's why we are bringing the TextKills Bus and our safety apps to this exciting event – to save lives and make our roads safer for everyone."

Facts about Texting While Driving

The dangers of texting while driving has been an active field of study in recent years, presenting troubling reminders of the impact the practice has on our lives. Among them:

• 20 percent of injury crashes in 2009 involved reports of distracted driving. (source: NHTSA)
• Of those killed in distracted-driving-related crashes, 995 involved reports of a cell phone as a distraction (18% of fatalities in distraction-related crashes). (NHTSA)
• In 2009, 5,474 people were killed in U.S. roadways and an estimated additional 448,000 persons were injured in motor vehicle crashes that were reported to have involved distracted driving. (FARS and GES)
• The age group with the greatest proportion of distracted drivers was the under-20 age group – 16 percent of all drivers younger than 20 involved in fatal crashes were reported to have been distracted while driving. (NHTSA)
• Drivers who use hand-held devices are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves. (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety)
• Using a cell phone while driving, whether hand-held or hands-free, delays a driver's reactions as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of .08 percent. (University of Utah)

Iconosys' Irving warns that the side-effects of this practice (death and injury due to car accidents) have yet to be fully realized.  It seems to be an undeniable trend that the world is becoming more and more dependent on texting as a primary means of communication, particularly in the case of teenagers — who reportedly average over 4,000 text messages per month.  The growing significance of this "always-on" aspect of our daily lives, which borders on an addiction for many, is opening up the world's eyes to the very real dangers of texting while driving.

About Iconosys, Inc.

Iconosys, a member of the National Organization for Youth Safety and the maker of the widely used and well publicized DriveReply™, SMSW!sh™, Trick or Tracker™, and Tell My Geo™ Smartphone apps, is developing apps, technologies and other technology driven products that enrich, enhance, and ultimately make safer, our day to day lives.

About Nike 3on3

Nike Basketball 3on3 has grown to become one of the largest 3on3 street basketball tournaments and fan fests in Los Angeles. Annual participation in Nike Basketball 3on3 exceeds 1,070 teams, 4,000 players and 25,000 spectators with participants and spectators coming from all over the country. This year's event will be held from August 5 through August 7, combining electrifying basketball action with live acts, including DMC of Run DMC, and a fan fest with more than 30 exhibits. More information can be found at http://nike3on3.com.

SOURCE Iconosys, Inc.