Helping to deal with in-car distractions

Sometimes there can be a simple solution for a problem.

For motorists, coping with phones and other gadgets while in the car can cause difficulties and can impact on driving safety.

Fiddling with a bit of kit to connect a satnav to a windscreen is always tricky, and it leaves tell-tale signs too.

It is also something you shouldn’t do, while driving, because it is a safety hazard, of course.

Anything that distracts you from control of the car is a no-no.

Then you might want music from your ipod, or to have your hands-free smartphone nearby.

The simple CD Slot Holder is a usefulsolution, and was invented by a local man, Gary Smith from Clacton.

This award-winning bit of kit is now being sold by Essex-based Dash Mate, who had a pre-Christmas presence in the Buttermarket shopping centre, Ipswich and also in Eld Lane, Colchester.

David Swinbourne told me the CD Slot Mount was proving very popular.

“it pops into your CD slot and provides a safe place for your Satnav, Smartphone or iPod when driving. Even coins can be placed on it.

“It doesn’t require any magnetic force, clamp or mechanism.

“People like that it remoes the Satnav from the windscreen.

“And you can still play back discs if you want to,”

His father, Mike Swinbourne, added: “It is not just an award-winnin invention that anyone can use.

“We see all sorts of people at trade events and at shows like The Gadget Show and Grand Designs and it has featured on television too.

“It has been very, very successful.”

While I stood next to David chatting in Ipswich, a succession of customers stopped to find out more, and to buy them too.

www.dashmateuk.com