Key2SafeDriving adds to a trend of using technology to thwart speeding, drunken driving, and other risky behavior proven to ramp-up the odds of crashing.

Once slipped into a car's ignition, the key created by US university researcher Xuesong Zhou and Dr. Wallace Curry sends a wireless signal to a driver's mobile phone blocking calls or texting.

"If you're in driving mode, you can't talk or text -- period," a character tells a friend trying in vain to send a text message while driving a car in a YouTube video demonstrating how the keys work.

The keys are being pitched as a way for parents to stop teenage children from focusing attention on beloved mobile telephones instead of traffic.

A growing number US states are enacting laws against teenagers using mobile telephones while driving.

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