NEW YORK — We always knew somebody would find a way. And now somebody has: A Canadian software developer has created programming for cell phones that can detect when the phone is in a moving vehicle and can prevent calls and text messages from distracting the driver.The new software from Aegis Mobility does nothing to stop the driver from initiating a call, but can block incoming calls and text messages, providing a message to the caller saying the phone's owner is on the move.It's not the be-all and end-all, but it's a start toward forcing drivers to prioritize.The software, called DriveAssist, works for phones running Microsoft Windows Mobile or Symbian, favored by the Sony Ericsson and Nokia brands. It leverages the information from the phones' existing global positioning system feed to determine if the phone is stationary or moving. Phones that don't have a GPS chip but do have a Wi-Fi antenna also can run DriveAssist, reports the Associated Press.The software requires support from the cellular carrier, and Aegis doesn't have any contracts — yet. Aegis is teaming, no surprise, with an insurance company, Nationwide Mutual Insurance, to introduce the feature perhaps as early as next year.The system has an obvious attractiveness for families with new drivers, although the function can be overridden if, for example, the phone's owner is riding in a vehicle but doesn't happen to be driving.DriveAssist may only be the beginning of a new era of curtailing mobile-phoning activity. Engineers at an industry conference two years ago told Inside Line that GPS functionality can enable all sorts of sophisticated phone control. Our favorite: detecting which lane of a multilane roadway a vehicle is occupying. Software then could prevent cell-phone use if the driver was in the far left lanes, for example — putting the kibosh on those fast-talking-but-slow-driving idiots holding up everybody in the passing lane.The AP reports the 12-year-old son of Aegis' vice president, David Teater, was killed in 2004 by someone talking on a cell phone while driving.Inside Line says: Distracted driving is an epidemic — so we're for anything that might make people begin to realize there's really, really limited need for phone conversations while driving. — Bill Visnic, senior editor, Edmunds AutoObserver