Four Democratic senators on Tuesday penned a letter to Apple, Google, and Research in Motion to urge the companies to remove apps that provide users with information about DUI checkpoints.
"With more than 10,000 Americans dying in drunk-driving crashes every year, providing access to applications that alert users to DUI checkpoints is harmful to public safety," according to the letter, which was signed by Sens. Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer, Frank Lautenberg, and Mark Udall.
The senators asked the companies to remove the apps, unless the app creators remove DUI or DWI checkpoint functionality.
"One application contains a database of DUI checkpoints updated in real-time. Another application, with more than 10 million users, also allows users to alert each other to DUI checkpoints in real time," they wrote. "Giving drunk drivers a free tool to evade checkpoints, putting innocent families and children at risk, is a matter of public concern."
A search for "DUI checkpoint" in the Apple App Store brought up three apps: Buzzed, which sells for $0.99, will provide users with updates about DUI checkpoints within 100 miles of their location; Checkpointer (above), which costs $4.99, provides data on checkpoints in Orange County, Calif., information that is collected and posted by a bail bonds company; and .Tipsy, a free app that provides weekly updates on checkpoints in Los Angeles.
"The super small, one time fee of $4.99 spent today on Checkpointer could potentially save you thousands of dollars by helping you avoid an arrest for DUI," according to the app description. "It might even make you think twice before taking that drink. Who knows?"
A similar search in the Android Market pulled up four options: Checkpoint Wingman ($1.99) and Checkpoint Wingman Lit (free), which posts user-uploaded DUI checkpoints and sends alerts to your phone when you're close to a checkpoint; PhantomALERT (free), which provides data on speed traps, red light cameras, speed cameras, school zones, DUI checkpoints, and dangerous intersections; and Mr. DUI (free), which posts information about DUI checkpoints, speed traps, and red light cameras, and also supports user submissions and alerts. Mr. DUI was created in partnership with an attorney, who will provide a free, one-hour consultation with app downloaders facing DUI charges.
BlackBerry App World, meanwhile, also includes PhantomALERT.
Apple, Google, and RIM did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sen. Schumer will hold a press briefing on the matter at Apple's flagship Fifth Ave. store in Manhattan tonight at 7:30pm.