State Farm Insurance is helping driver education instructors stay organized with a new mobile application that manages student records, driving data and trip scores to monitor progress for learners behind the wheel.

The Driver Feedback Instructor Edition app is designed to keep parents informed of their teenagers? driving efforts, especially regarding the three key core areas of acceleration, braking and cornering. Driving instructors will also have an easier time of managing several students and classes while on-the-go.

?State Farm supports technology advancements that improve auto and highway safety and reduce deaths and injuries from car crashes,? said Dave Phillips, spokesman for State Farm Insurance, Bloomington, IL. ?We know our customers want choices and want convenience.

?Whenever and wherever we are needed, mobile accessibility is important and valued by our customers.?

Easy organization
State Farm?s new app, which is free to download for iOS and Android devices, builds on the previously released Driver Feedback application with additional customized features. Instructors will be able to manage their students, write down notes and download important driving data to aid the learning process.

The app is able to track each trip and calculate an overall score, as well as individual scores for what State Farm refers to as the ABC?s of driving: acceleration, braking and cornering. As students learn to drive better, their scores will increase.

This tactic will likely be effective in raising their morale and prompting them to undertake the utmost caution when on the road with an instructor. Individual scores and data may also be texted or emailed to students and their parents to remind them of positive behavior, celebrate successes and pinpoint areas for improvement.

This way, students can aim to improve upon their last driving performance.

Hands-free tracking
A top feature of the new app is the ability to set a smartphone anywhere in the car to maintain driving data without interference.

?The mobile app is put down during instruction (in a cup holder or on dashboard); so that it does not interfere with driver or instructor attention,? Mr. Phillips said. ?Professional-grade accelerometer recording technology measures acceleration, braking and cornering.

?The app scores each driver and offers helpful tips to put students on the road to better driving. The instructor edition helps instructors manage multiple students or classes, record notes, and download driving data for more detailed analysis.?

State Farm believes that mobile is the ideal channel for capturing and tracking detailed information during driving instruction to help their teachers ramp up the rate of student competency and learning.

The insurance company is no stranger to turning to mobile to reach new consumers.

This past March, State Farm and Cablevision were two of the top brands leveraging PadSquad?s advertisement units for mobile and tablet devices, which featured unique branding on mobile site's skins as well as injections in Web sites' article content streams (see story).

?State Farm believes that if we can provide detailed information about driving behaviors, driving instructors may be able to document and increase the rate of learning for students in their driver training programs,? Mr. Phillips said.

?Our app makes it easy to involve parents in the process which can help the learning process. If we can help create safer drivers, our roads will be safer for everyone.?

Final Take
Alex Samuely is an editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York