Maryland DUI App Aims To Prevent Drunk Driving

A new app, called ENDUI-as in 'End-DUI'-recently came out in Maryland. Funded with federal dollars, the app is designed to prevent people from driving drunk by acting as an intermediary to demonstrate partiers are too inebriated to get behind the wheel.

'It's unique,' describes Governors Highway Safety Association spokeswoman Kara Macek. 'I think states are starting to go that route because they're trying to reach consumers where they are and where they spend time, and everyone spends time on their phone. I think we're going to see more of that as we go forward.'

The Governors Highway Safety Association funded this new mobile app-which was developed by the Maryland Highway Safety Office-for approximately $50,000. And they aren't the only state with an app like this. New York, Colorado, New Mexico, and California, all have launched their own version of this app. Every one of these apps, though, are free through iOs and Android phones. One of the games featured on the app has users pressing a red button when the image of a pedestrian passes the car ahead of you or stops in your path. The game is supposed to simulate driving and the red button is, in essence, the brake. It is intended to show you how delayed your reaction time might be.

The other game in the app shows nine different road signs, blinking randomly. Your task is to remember the order of the signs. Of course, the game gets harder and harder every round.

Maryland Highway Safety Office chief Tom Gianni explains 'The game is meant to be a hook and pull you in. Then it's meant to give you a lesson of, 'See what can happen. Imagine if you were behind the wheel.''