Peaceful Rides, Mount Kisco
If there’s one thing that most parents have in common, it’s having to endure the bickering that can take place between siblings in the backseat of a car.
Three local inventors have solved that dilemma by creating Divide Your Ride, a patent-pending innovative new product from their newly found company, Peaceful Rides.
The co-creators — founder and CEO Eric Lebowitz; Peter Linder, chief operating officer; and Shelly Cohen, director of marketing — are the brains behind Divide Your Ride, which has been designed to ensure peace, quiet and personal space for backseat passengers.
Lebowitz, a Mount Kisco resident, teamed up with Linder, his childhood friend, and Cohen to put into action an idea that they’ve been kicking around for close to 30 years.
During the company’s 18-month development phase, the partners conducted extensive market research and found there were no other products on the market that replicated what they had in mind.
Linder explained that numerous prototypes were created, but none were up to their aesthetic and safety standards.
“We pondered, debated, created, tested and retested until we ultimately developed a unique and compelling product that achieved our goals,” Linder said.
The easy-to-use divider is a lightweight product that can be installed in most cars, vans, SUVs and pickup trucks that are fitted with a rear seat, Lebowitz explained. Divide Your Ride comes with magnets and adhesive strips as well as J-hooks, which hold the divider in place at the top.
“Safety was our number-one priority,” Lebowitz added, referring to the product’s rounded edges and the nontoxic inks and other natural materials that went into its production.
No tools are necessary to install or remove it from a car seat.
“We also wanted Divide Your Ride to be portable, collapsible and lightweight for ease of use and storage, so we topped it off with a closure strap,” said Linder, who studied engineering in college.
When not in use, Divide Your Ride can remain in the car and takes up minimal space, he added.
Parents are not the only customers the company is targeting. The partners believe the product can also meet the needs of the new ride-sharing economy. More and more people in metropolitan areas are giving up their cars due the expense, pollution, congestion, parking and other challenges that are endemic to driving in big cities.
As a result, Lebowitz said shared rides, carpooling and car services like Uber and Lyft are an ideal follow-up market for the company.
“We are totally excited about this product,” said Lebowitz. “We haven’t met anyone yet who has said this is a terrible idea.”
The divider is currently available through the company’s Kickstarter page, which can be found on the company website, www.peacefulrides.com.
Colette Connolly is a copywriter and p.r. expert. She owns Connolly Communications, which is based in Bronxville, New York. Colette specializes in providing content-rich, SEO-optimized press releases, articles, newsletters, brochures, and customer success stories.
