11-year old wins R164k for safety app

11-year old Victoria Walker has won R164,000 for an anti-texting-while-driving app

Jeremy Proome

September 27, 2012

An 11-year old girl has won $20,000 for helping create an app that discourages users to text while driving.

The competition was part of the “It Can Wait” campaign, which raises awareness for road safety and mobile usage.

Victoria Walker’s winning app, Rode Dog, was created with the help of game designer David Grau.

Rode Dog encourages users to join a “pack”, which allows all group members to monitor each other. Assuming users are logged into the app, if one user sees another user texting while driving, they can send a loud barking sound to that friend. That sound will not stop until the phone is put away.

Walker and Grau plan to have the app up on various marketplaces for Android, iOS, and Windows Phone later this year. They also plan on using the prize money to further enhance the app.

Check out the app on the official Rode Dog page.