I think this is a really good alternative. While I do believe that anything that takes away from your attention (texting) while driving, should be banned. It's always going to be a problem whether there is a law against it or not.
It comes down to.. would I rather someone be sending a text while looking down at their phone. Or would I feel better about someone sending a text, a message that's being sent regardless, while looking ahead in front of them.
One of the first things I did after installing, is turned off the notifications and badge icon in iOS settings.
It doesn't look like this can be changed within the app. It only provides the option of changing the content that's displayed. This was an initial turn off for me, but other than that I'm really happy with this!
It comes down to.. would I rather someone be sending a text while looking down at their phone. Or would I feel better about someone sending a text, a message that's being sent regardless, while looking ahead in front of them.