Zonar and ZoomSafer have formed a strategic agreement aimed at increasing safety for commercial, public and private fleets, as well as the traveling public.

The companies’ new solution integrates Zonar’s fleet management technologies with ZoomSafer’s FleetSafer policy management solutions to help customers manage employee cell phone use while driving.

According to the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, texting or typing on a phone while driving increases the risk of crashing up to 23 times.

“Employees who use mobile phones to text, e-mail and browse the web while driving are not only a danger to themselves, but also pose a significant risk and liability to their employers,” ZoomSafer CEO Matt Howard said. “Together, ZoomSafer and Zonar are providing companies with innovative and effective tools to prevent employees from distracted driving.”

FleetSafer Mobile is patented software for BlackBerry and Android smartphones that automatically prevents texting, e-mailing and browsing while driving to enable fleets to proactively enforce employee mobile phone use policies. FleetSafer Vision is a cloud-based analytics service that combines telematics data with details of employee mobile phone use to help fleets monitor risky driver behavior.

Zonar offers a vehicle telematics system that provides real-time vehicle location and captures data from the vehicle’s engine, including speed, fuel efficiency and fault codes. These data will be integrated with FleetSafer solutions to provide a complete picture of and tools to manage driver behavior.

“Throughout the last decade, Zonar has provided fleets with innovative tools for managing fleet safety and operations,” said Chris Oliver, Zonar’s vice president of sales and marketing. “We are excited to partner with ZoomSafer to offer our customers additional ways to improve fleet safety and reduce the risk and challenges created by cell phone use while driving.”