A personal account by Scott Tibbitts, CEO and Founder

On Thursday, December 10, “CBS This Morning” aired a powerful, 4-minute feature segment on Katasi’s Groove. Similar to the two previous global news features on our technology, via the New York Times and Katie Couric’s World 3.0 Series, the segment created an avalanche of attention that comes when millions of people learn about the Groove solution to distracted driving. Each call and email we receive from out of the blue—“I saw you guys on ‘CBS This Morning!’” or “Gayle King loves what you are doing. Keep it up!”—is an affirmation of not only of our work, but also of our passion and commitment to eliminate distracted driving.

The press attention has been honoring, but what follows is more so. People of influence have reached out to offer their help: People like leaders in the Federal Communications Commission and Department of Transportation as well as Congressional Representatives. Retired senior telecommunication executives from around the world and leaders within Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon. Celebrities in the worlds of entertainment and sports. Leaders in education. All asking how they can help Groove be deployed swiftly and broadly.

But what matters most is when we hear from the people like you and me who fervently recognize Groove as the solution to the problem of distracted driving: “I HAVE to have this for my family. When and where can I get this? Which carrier is going to offer Groove first?”

Globally, more than a thousand people are now a part of the Groovement, and the numbers continue to grow.

Many of these people have had personal experience with the tragedy of distracted driving. Often, they introduce themselves, by leading with their stories, each of which enunciate the importance of our mission.

One of the more poignant of these stories was offered unexpectedly. While talking on the phone with a Verizon customer service representative who was helping me with my new phone plan, I explained a bit about Groove. His response? Silence. When he spoke a moment later, he choked up as he shared that his closest high school friend and the friend’s infant child were killed several years ago by a texting driver. He closed the call by wishing us Godspeed and his hope that Verizon will be first to make Groove available here in the United States.

His comments affirm a statistic that the telecommunications companies have shared with us: that on average, each of the major mobile phone service providers loses more than one customer to distracted driving every day.

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When the “CBS This Morning” segment aired, we were prepared to capture viewer response with a survey on our website. The data has not been fully collated, but three preliminary highlights of the survey convey a mandate:

• 54% of those taking the survey would switch their family from their current mobile provider to one that offers Groove
• 98% would pay $5.00 or more per month for Groove (before any insurance company discounts)

And a final data point shows that the issue is not limited to younger drivers:

• 92% would install Groove in each of their family’s cars

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Our mission simply stated:

To Make Distracted Driving an Unacceptable Human Behavior

Are you with us? Here’s how YOU can help:

1. Visit us at katasi.com.
2. Take the survey.
3. Join The Groovement
4. Tell your friends!