New monitoring tools keep tabs on teen drivers

One of the most nerve-wracking times for a parent is when your teenager starts driving. It’s scary enough driving when you’re in the car with them but how can you make sure they’re doing the right thing when you’re not around?

There are new monitoring tools that may be the next best thing to having a parent ride shotgun.

“The Tiwi device goes in the windshield of a car and it knows where you are, how fast you are going, and most importantly, it knows the speed limit of the street you are driving on,” says Inthinc CEO Todd Follmer.

In addition to GPS and a cellular modem, the Tiwi also has an accelerometer so “a voice” will pipe up when your teen is making sudden stops and starts or taking a corner too fast. If the warnings are ignored, you’ll be notified within seconds.

“Notifications go to our portal, and you’ll immediately be getting a text message or e-mail saying that your car is going a hundred miles per hour and you need to be aware of it,” says Follmer.

You can also buy a GPS tracking device that not only alerts you when your teen is speeding, it also includes a geo-fencing feature that lets you know if they’re driving where they shouldn’t be.

“For example, if your house is on First and Denny and you only want them to go within a ten mile radius, as soon as they go past that geo-fence, you will get a text message,” says Aaron Wong, the assistant manager at the Car Toys store in downtown Seattle.

Video cameras have also become popular. DriveCam has a system that allows you to monitor what’s going on inside and outside the car. The camera’s red light goes on when the driver is doing something risky. The company also sends a weekly safety report that rates your teens’ driving skills and decisions.

But does all this new, high-tech monitoring make your teen safer behind the wheel?

“I think they have potential but the reality is, there haven’t been enough field validation studies to say, ‘Yes, they absolutely work,'” says Peter Kissinger, the CEO of the Triple A Foundation for Traffic Safety.

He says some parents are worried about invading their teens’ privacy or sending a message they don’t trust them. But on the positive side, he says they let your kid know that driving is a big responsibility that needs to be taken seriously, and you are going to do everything possible to keep them safe.

“All these technologies are a robust way of getting parents engaged in the process and there is a lot of evidence that shows getting parents engaged does work when it comes to teen driver safety,” he says.

These monitoring devices aren’t cheap. They range anywhere from $300 to $900 for the equipment and installation and some also have a yearly subscription fee.