Your kids are growing up. Sooner or later they will be entering the most chaotic phase of their life. As teens, they will be craving for action and adventure. They will be in search for new things – including road invasion. Driving is one thing they look forward to since they were kids.You’re no stranger to this. You’ve been in that situation ages ago. So you understand. What worries you is the fact that reckless driving is one of the most dominant causes of teen fatalities.
By far, traffic accidents are the No. 1 killer of U.S. teenagers, with a fatality rate 4 times higher than drivers aged 25-69. A total of 5,288 teens died in traffic accidents in 2005, and more than 7,000 were driving cars involved in fatal accidents.
Stay right there. We’ll wipe the worries for a short while.
I want to re-tell a story. Don’t react just yet. This is a no non-sense story. MSNBC writes:
Now you can relate.When 17-year-old Anna Kinderman takes a turn too fast in her parents’ sedan or jams the brakes too hard, she apologizes aloud even when no one else is in the car. “Sorry, Dad,” she says, looking up at the camera mounted on the rear-view mirror.
Mom and Dad will see the incident on video soon enough, after all.
Her mom, Bette Kinderman, views the system as a great tool for parents. “I’d rather be able to talk to her about an issue before there’s an accident,” she said.
She downplayed concerns about privacy: “To me, my kids haven’t earned their privacy in a car yet. Being in a car is so dangerous.”
As you observe, a number of automakers have started offering in-car cameras or GPS-supported equipment to help parents monitor their teenagers’ driving behavior, hoping to reduce the alarming number of crashes involving young new motorists.
Experts in the industry say it’s too soon to gauge the effectiveness of programs like American Family Insurance Co.’s Teen Safe Driver, used by the Kindermans in Madison, Wis. Undeniably, however, there is a need to improve highway safety for teens.
Insurance companies can benefit significantly if the initiatives catch on, according to Craig Weber, senior insurance analyst with research and consulting firm Celent. “It’s a unique opportunity for them to help change behavior, which will help them drive down rates, which will make customers happy,” said Weber. Even if rates don’t drop, he added, “it’s a huge win in building customer loyalty and generating positive PR.”
One of the most interesting programs is the Safeco Corp.’s Teensurance. Under the said program, a camera records audio and video images of both the road and the driver when motion sensors detect swerving, hard braking, sudden acceleration or a collision. The footage goes to an analysis center where it is graded for riskiness and sent on to parents with comments and coaching tips.
Teen drivers have mixed feelings about the technology; one in 20 even cover the camera after it is first installed, said the program officials.
Another new program is MobileTeen GPS, introduced in April by American International Group Inc.’s AIG Auto Insurance. The GPS program sends parents an e-mail or text message if the teen’s car exceeds pre-defined speed limits or strays too far from home or school.
The services are expected to go global. Infiniti Canada and other automakers have products that are friendly to such technology.