A new iPhone and Android application aims to slash buzzed driving among college students.
Watch Your BAC is a free mobile app that helps track blood alcohol content. Users input their information to calculate their BAC or the time it will take to sober up.
Miné Salkin, the spokeswoman for Type 2 Designs, the company that created the app, said friends can connect through each other’s phones to group chat, monitor each other’s alcohol levels and choose a designated driver. Users who use the app often and act as the designated driver frequently earn achievement notifications that their friends can see.
“For many students and young people of (college) age, it’s the first time in their lives that they are making independent choices as adults,” Salkin wrote in an email. “We hope this app, used as a guideline, will help them make educated and informed choices.”
The app also comes loaded with phone numbers of local taxi companies.
Dane Albér, a 21-year-old UF psychology senior, said he thought the app was a good idea but isn’t sure if it will be always be effective.
“I just don’t know if you can expect a drunk person to keep track of what they drink,” he wrote in an email. “Ultimately, if someone is too drunk to drive, they won’t be able to use the app effectively.”
[A version of this story ran on page 5 on 4/22/2014 under the headline "New BAC app creates local buzz"]
