Tech Park company, Community make New York Times

Community Coffee and obdEdge, a company in the Louisiana Technology Park, garnered a mention in the New York Times on Sunday in a story about technological fixes that keep drivers from using cell phones while they’re behind the wheel. Baton Rouge’s obdEdge makes Cell Control, which prevents a driver from sending or receiving phone calls, text messages or e-mails while their vehicle is in motion. Community started testing the device in its fleet of trucks in August. According to the Times, for several years Community has banned using cell phones while driving its 400 trucks. In that time, the accident rate dropped 30%. Jamey LeBlanc, the risk manager for Community, told the newspaper that the company went to obdEdge as a way of going beyond education and policy. “If we could control ourselves, we wouldn’t need any of this technology,” Donald Powers, a managing partner at obdEdge, told the newspaper. “We know it’s such a bad habit, but we crave being connected.” Read the full story here.