Via road safety App Mockup
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Introduction
Brief: Design an app that auto-detects driving, blocks distractions, and boosts safety.
Challenge: Balance strict phone lockout with real-world flexibility and emergency access.
Goals: Stop distracted driving, keep users reachable in emergencies, and make the experience seamless.
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Discovery Phase
Stakeholder interviews with safety advocates, devs, and insurance partners.
Business requirements: Must be dead simple, reliable, and work across devices.
User needs: Automatic safety mode, clear override options, and peace of mind for families.
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Problem Framing
Problem: Distracted driving is a real risk, but total phone lockout isn’t practical for everyone.
Success: App blocks distractions while allowing for emergencies and VIP calls.
Constraints: Needs to work with standard smartphone sensors, low battery use, and support wearables.
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User Research
User interviews: Drivers, parents, and fleet managers shared their pain points and safety worries.
Competitive analysis: Most apps are either too strict or too easy to bypass.
Market research: Users want automation, not constant manual toggling.
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Synthesis
Personas: “The Safe Driver,” “The Worried Parent,” and “The Fleet Supervisor.”
Journey mapping: From getting in the car to arriving safely, with stops for emergencies and VIP overrides.
Key insights: Automation is key, but users need a way to override for critical situations.
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Solution Development
Info architecture: Simple dashboard, clear status, and quick access to override controls.
Wireframes & prototypes: Iterated on the lockout flow, notifications, and emergency features.
Visual design: Bold, easy-to-read screens for quick glances, with strong safety cues.
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Testing
Usability testing: Ran with drivers of all ages—flagged confusing override steps.
User feedback: Added more context to notifications and improved Apple Watch integration.
Design iterations: Tweaked the lock/unlock flow and clarified emergency access.
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Implementation
Handoff: Provided annotated screens and flows to devs.
Dev collab: Synced regularly to ensure accurate motion detection and reliable notifications.
Go-to-market: Piloted with a local insurer, then rolled out to app stores.
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Results & Impact
Metrics: Fewer in-motion calls/texts, higher app retention, positive safety feedback.
User adoption: Parents and fleet managers especially loved the peace of mind.
Business impact: Helped secure partnerships with insurers and safety orgs.
Lessons learned: Automation + thoughtful override = safer roads and happier users.
The Via road safety app automatically detects users movement within a vehicle, blocks, and stores phone calls and text while in motion. The app starts automatically when the user has traveled a distance more than 1000 meters and reached a speed of over 25 km/h. The app is developed with smart algorithms using sensors already available in most modern smartphones.
Once the phone has detected decrees in movement the phone will unlock and the user can send and receive voice and text calls along with access to the Apps functions of allowing users to record voicemails, notifying callers they are in transit and can not answer the phone and will contact them at a safe time.
By automatically monitoring and interpreting certain parameters, the App can determine if the carrier of the phone is involved in an accident whereby an immediate warning is sent out to the users pre-designated emergency point of contact with the user’s longitudes and latitudes. Also, the phone’s flashlight will activate to notify EMT of your location.
The Via app will allow some selected users to override the lockout and notification of the call or text be made aware to the user through wearable adapt and Contextually specific controls.
