SAN ANTONIO – A mother who lost her young daughter in a crash is turning pain into action.
Emily Zaltsman, 13, died after a driver rear-ended the car that she was in last year. Police said the man behind the wheel was texting.
Now, Emily’s mother, Karin, is helping to spread the word about a free app that gives incentives for safe driving. The free Texas-based app is called Safe 2 Save and was created by a woman named Marci Corry.
Corry was inspired to create the app after hearing about a 19-year-old man who died because someone was texting and driving.
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“You just pull it up before you start to drive, and you're going to get two points for each minute that you're not touching your phone when you're in motion and you're going 10 miles an hour or more,” Corry said. “The point is to rack up points and then you get to use those points for, let's say, Bush's Chicken, and we have 313 other businesses that are part of it.”
App users can also upload a picture of a loved one that displays when you open the app to remind you that distracted driving is not worth it.
“This is the largest preventable (cause of) death among high school students and college students, and my age, in the 30s,” Corry said.
According to Corry, the Safe 2 Save app has over 60,000 users. The app is equipped with features that allow families and co-workers to compete with each other to see who can drive the safest. There are rewards for that, too.
“We can send a gift card to the winner of that contest,” Corry said.
Corry hopes it's enough motivation to put an end to distracted-driving deaths.
While using the app, you can still use Bluetooth, listen to music, and safely use GPS apps like Wayze and Google Maps.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE APP
For 1,000 free points, enter the coupon code LIFESAVER.