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January 20, 2012
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State Farm Launches Driver Feedback(TM) App on Android®

Scoring system encourages parents and teens to share teachable moments by competing for best scores

BLOOMINGTON, Ill., Jan. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- For most people, using a smartphone while driving is the last thing anyone would want to encourage in the interest of safe driving. But today, State Farm has made the Driver Feedback(TM) app available on Android devices. This free app turns a person's cell phone into a pocket-sized driving coach when placed in the car without using it. The application, available for Android, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, provides users individual feedback about their driving habits and then offers tips on how people can drive more safely.

Research shows that certain driving habits can increase the risk of a car crash. The Driver Feedback app uses the device's accelerometer to measure three essential driving behaviors:

    --  Acceleration
    --  Braking
    --  Cornering
When activated, at the end of each trip, the driver is provided a score and a log of potentially dangerous driving activities. If the app detects especially risky driving behaviors it provides the driver tips for improvement.

Key features of the new Driver Feedback app include:

    --  The ability to record trips and receive feedback on driving performance
    --  A map illustrating where potentially dangerous driving activities
        occurred
    --  The ability for drivers to compare their scores, or track the progress
        of an individual driver
    --  A trip completion notification allowing a driver to send a text or email
        to someone when they safely complete their trip
    --  Multi-trip average scores (up to five) to track progress
Teaching Tool for Parents

The Driver Feedback app is particularly useful for parents teaching teens how to drive.  It offers teen drivers and their parents access to useful non-biased driving feedback, to help families have constructive conversations about safe driving.  In addition, the app can be a useful and objective tool to help assess a teen's readiness for independent driving.

Experienced drivers may benefit from this app, too.  Research from the National Highway Traffic Administration(1) has shown that hard acceleration, deceleration and cornering are associated with higher crash risk.  The Driver Feedback app can help identify problem areas, providing drivers of any age with useful tips to help reduce the risk of crashes.

The Driver Feedback app is currently available for Android, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad and is free for anyone to download.  Information on the app remains with the user and is not collected or used by State Farm.

This app is one in a series of mobile and online resources State Farm makes available to people interested in becoming a better driver.  Learn more about the State Farm Driver Feedback app at https://market.android.com/details?id=com.statefarm.driverfeedback.

About State Farm®:

State Farm and its affiliates are the largest provider of car insurance in the U.S. and is a leading insurer in Canada. In addition to providing auto insurance quotes, their 17,800 agents and more than 65,000 employees serve 81 million policies and accounts - more than 79 million auto, home, life and health policies in the United States and Canada, and nearly 2 million bank accounts. Commercial auto insurance, along with coverage for renters, business owners, boats and motorcycles, is also available. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company is the parent of the State Farm family of companies. State Farm is ranked No. 37 on the Fortune 500 list of largest companies. For more information, please visit http://www.statefarm.com or in Canada http://www.statefarm.ca.

(1) Sourced from NHTSA Report DOT HS 811 091 Klauer, S. G., Dingus, T. A., Neale, V. L., Sudweeks, J. D., and Ramsey, D. J.(2009) Comparing Real-World Behaviors of Drivers With High versus Low Rates of Crashes and Near-Crashes DOT HS 811 00

SOURCE  State Farm

State Farm

CONTACT: Blake Zitko, +1-309-766-9875, blake.zitko.mcxs@statefarm.com

Web Site: http://www.statefarm.com

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