Tracking devices make teen drivers safer, IIHS says

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Teens get monitored more than most people do in their daily lives: at school, at home, at work and often remotely by cellphone or global positioning system. You can even monitor their driving habits without actually sitting in the car with them.

Not only that, but a study released today suggests that a new kind of in-car tracking device results in safer driving habits for teens at a time when they’re at their most vulnerable: flush with a newly attained license and driving a car without adult supervision.

Devices to track drivers’ locations are nothing new, with GPS becoming commonplace in the most tech-phobic of families, but the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety studied a new gizmo that also allows a parent or guardian to monitor a teen’s speed in real time. It also lets them know whether their teen is wearing a seat belt and whether he squealed the brakes or tires on the family car. The device also features an in-car alert for when they’re driving over 65 mph (like those in some Volvo and Saab models currently on the market).

Result: safer teen driving habits, according to the IIHS. But not without raising a couple of questions on privacy and long-term effectiveness. And of course the simmering question: Would you like your own driving habits to be monitored this way?

Parent David Heyman helped the IIHS install the tracking device in his 2001 Honda Civic to monitor his 17-year-old son Ben’s driving habits immediately after Ben passed his driving test last year.

He tells The Times: ‘With kids these days they’re somewhat used to the cellphone calls they’re making being tracked, that parents with some technical aptitude can keep tabs on their movements. So although my son wasn’t enthusiastic about it, he didn’t throw a fit about it. It allowed us to talk about specific things about his driving.’

Heyman could check his son’s speed and location on a website set up by the IIHS, and could monitor Ben’s driving habits by way of an in-car system that logs harsh braking patterns and wheel spins, or if he was wearing a seat belt, and send the data to the website for parental analysis.

‘We saw where he was driving at this time or if he took a hard turn; for a new driver it’s not entirely unexpected. They’re inexperienced or may misjudge slowing down. It was more educational and instructive, and then we were able to talk about it.’

One of the study’s authors, Anne McCartt at the IIHS, says the research was conducted in partnership with device-maker Tiwi but all of the driver data were gathered and analyzed by the IIHS.

McCartt says: ‘This study shows these devices have some promise but also results show that parents can’t just [rely on] a piece of technology. Parents need to be very involved in monitoring how their teens are driving, that’s what has the biggest effect.’

She says that ‘teens did take fewer risks when they were being monitored’ but noted that in the two-week period after the 24-week study -- with the device remaining in the car but the teen driver not being alerted and her team not posting information to the website -- ‘a bit of a drop off’ in driving habits occurred, although it was not an official part of the study.

The devices also offer features not tested by the IIHS, including real-time text-message alerts and ‘geo-sensing,’ or putting a predetermined limit on where a teen could drive, or denoting a banned location, with an alert sent to parents if the teen drives to the off-limits area.

So would Heyman -- who points out that his home state of Maryland requires a period of post-driving-test instruction from an adult sitting in the front passenger seat while the young driver is behind the wheel -- allow his son to monitor his daily driving patterns? And would he welcome a system that permanently tracks his own driving?

‘You know, I drove the car occasionally with the device and I was maybe going too fast a couple times. The fact that it gave an in-car reminder really encourages you to keep your foot off the accelerator. Not so much that someone was watching me, but more you were getting real-time feedback on your driving.’

-- Craig Howie, LATimes.com

Video: inthinc1 via YouTube