The Problem of Drunk Driving - Essay Example

I. Opportunity: Describe the problem that will be solved or the opportunity that will be realized through the innovation you will be developing in this class.  In addition to drunk driving, distracted driving through texting is also dangerous. In a research made by Traffic Safety Administration in 2008, the study reported that “driver distraction was the cause of 16 percent of all fatal crashes -- 5,800 people killed -- and 21 percent of crashes resulting in an injury -- 515,000 people wounded (Federal Communications Commission, 2009). This findings was supported by the research of Virginia Tech Transportation Institute who reported after over 18 months of study of driver’s behavior through installed video cameras that drivers who text and drive has a collision risk of 23 times greater that when not texting (Richtel, 2009). Text driving is indeed dangerous for a driver because one has to take their eyes from the road to send or receive text messages and this has caused accidents and fatal crashes that get people killed. II. Ensuring Success Creating or finding a way where the driver’s safety is not compromised while sending and receiving text messages can indeed be a challenge. As it is, studies have already proven that texting while driving is dangerous that a new innovative way is needed to keep the driver’s eyes on the road while still able to receive and text messages. Banning text messaging through legislation such as the case of Text Messaging Law of California that prohibits text driving (California Department of Motor Vehicles, 2011) will not work evident with the continued accidents and fatal crashes associated to text driving. Thus, the innovative idea/s that will be found or created that will enable drivers to text while keeping their eyes on the road will save thousands of lives and limbs and also millions of dollars because accidents and crashes linked to text driving can be minimized if not totally eliminated with the proposed innovation. For the company, developing a product and/or system that would allow a driver to text and drive would be considered revolutionary that could significantly enhanced its bottom line. III. Impact on Results The immediate impact of the development of an innovative product and/or system that would allow a driver to text while driving would be the recognition from the safety regulation agencies that indeed the device and/or system works. Such recognition would bear credibility to the product and/or system that would make it possible for the product to become mandatory in any vehicle before it can be insured. When such objective is realize, the increase in revenue that will be derived from such innovation would be exponential considering that all vehicles in the US will be required to install it before it can be insured. In addition to the recognition to the company the revenue that can be derived from the direct sale of the product and/or system, the innovation will also be patented that any vehicle manufacturer that will pre-install the innovation will also be charged thus contributing more to the company’s bottom line. IV. The Innovation The innovation involves the development of a chip that will contain a transmitter that can communicate with the driver in every vehicle. It will be installed below the driver’s seat and will be activated by the weight in the seat causing outgoing text messaging function of a celphone to be deactivated. It will instead be replaced by a voice recognition messaging whereby the outgoing text messages will be typed in via voice command and incoming text will be read aloud either through a headphone or car speaker. This way, the driver will not have to take his or her eyes off from the road everytime he or she sends or receive text messages. The advantage of the chip is obvious, it will allow the driver to receive and send text messages without getting his or her eyes off from the road. This will eliminate the danger associated to text danger when drivers are distracted when sending and receiving texts. The disadvantage is cost. With the economy still reeling from the recent financial crisis, potential customers may not be willing to shell out extra dollars for such safety device. V. Creating Customer Value The product is hinged on the idea that text driving cannot be banned despite of a law prohibiting it. People will always be tempted to receive their messages while driving and sending the same. Instead of stricter implementation of the law which could be impractical, it is instead thought to make an innovative device to allow text driving without the driver having to get his or her eyes off the road. Such, the biggest customer value that the innovation can offer to customers is safety and ease of communication while on the road. It is believed that this value proposition to the customer will be irresistible thus increasing the bottom line of the company exponentially with the introduction of such innovative device in the market. VI. Implementation Process: Describe the process you might use to implement the innovation in your organization.  Innovation involves the development of new products or processes and the know-how that begets them (Bhidé, 2009). The development of these products or processes however does not come automatically and is a product of long, hard, creative thinking under the atmosphere of support and ingenuity. To elicit the most innovative idea that will solve the challenge of text driving, the following processes are to be followed; a. Definition of the problem As stated, defining the problem of text driving is necessary to be able to determine the opportunities for innovation. b. Convert the problem into challenge After determining the problem, it will be transformed into a challenge to solicit creative solution from colleagues. Problems do not have to remain problem that will continue to haunt us with issues, but rather should pose as a challenge to elicit ideas from us (Gee and Gee, 2011). c. Challenge colleagues to suggest creative solutions When the challenge has been presented, the floor must be opened to brainstorm for ideas and solution. To encourage the most ingenious innovation, no idea will be judged as weird or tagged with negative connotation. Neither any solution would be considered as right or wrong. Each idea must be able to stand scrutiny. d. Collaborative idea generation Nobody has the monopoly of good innovative ideas. More likely, innovative ideas would be an amalgam of various ideas that were hatched during the process of brainstorming. Thus, innovations and solutions presented must be documented and those that are feasible shall be selected until it can be used for the next step of combining such ideas to become a coherent solution. e. Combine and evaluate ideas Ideas, solutions or innovations that were picked through brainstorming will be integrated into a coherent solution to the text driving challenge. Pieces of solutions from installing the device in the driver’s seat to making it coordinate with the celphone will be combined to arrive at a solution of the text driving challenge. f. Develop ideas It is anticipated that the initial solution to the text driving challenge will need improvement. To make the innovation really workable and ingenious, it shall be perpetually developed and polished until we have arrive at the best innovative solution to the text driving challenge. g. Implement ideas/Test idea As the cliché goes, the test of the pudding is in the eating. The previous process were still on the trestle board and to check if it really works, or identify any areas of improvement, we have to implement and test the idea/s in a real world setting. A series of test/retest and documenting the result shall be done to perfect the idea. VII. Measuring the Impact The documentation part in the implementation and test stage is crucial to measure the efficacy of the device. Numbers can be assigned to determine efficacy of each function as well as its goal. For example, the transmitter should automatically disable the text messaging function of the phone and automatically activate the voice messaging once a driver is already seated. If the goal is 98% efficacy, the test runs should be able to achieve 98%. Ultimately, the best measurement of the impact of the innovation to customers is how much it has reduced the accidents related to text driving. References: Bhidé, Amar (2009). Where innovation creates value. McKinsey Quarterly, Issue 2:119-125. California Department of Motor Vehicles (2011). Text Messaging Law Effective January 1 2009 Cellular Phone Laws Effective July 1 2008. http://dmv.ca.gov/cellularphonelaws/ [accessed April 30, 2012] Federal Communication Commission (2009). Texting While Driving. http://www.fcc.gov/guides/texting-while-driving [accessed April 30, 2012] Gee, Val; Gee, Sarah. (2011). Business Improv Creates a Culture of Change and Innovation. Journal for Quality & Participation, 34(3): 30-33. Ritchel, Matt (July 7, 2009). In Study, Texting Lifts Crash Risk by Large Margin. New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/28/technology/28texting.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all [accessed April 30, 2012] Read More