View Samples of Teen Driving Cam

• Using Cellular Phone
• Putting on Makeup
• Teenage driver broadsided
  
  

By Michael Strand

Salina Journal

The donut days of youth may be a thing of the past.

And while dads -- and, OK, some moms -- might view those days of laying tight circles of rubber in parking lots with a bit of nostalgia, ask them to shift gears into present-day parenthood, and most will see some value in the idea of keeping track of what their offspring are up to behind the wheel.

In the past year or so, the same technology -- text messaging, MP3s and so on -- that enables teenagers to run circles around parents now also allows parents to know when teenagers are laying down circles in parking lots.

"I hated it. I threw a fit about it," said Stephanie Frost, 17, about her parents' decision to have DriveCam installed in her car about year ago.

The camera is mounted on the rearview mirror, and records views both out in front of the car and of the driver. When activated by excessive g-forces -- such as hard acceleration, hard braking, a sudden swerve or an impact -- it records a few seconds of what happened before and after the event.

And sends the video to parents.

Along with a driving coach's critique of the incident.

Busted.

Dang.

'Welcome to my life'

"I did not want it at all," said Frost, a senior at Southeast of Saline. "I thought they could just watch me all the time. But then I figured out what it was all about."

And explaining it to friends wasn't fun, either.

"They'd get in and ask, 'What's that?' and I'd say 'It's a camera,' " she said. "I've probably explained it like 20 times. One other kid at school has one, and I noticed it one day and mentioned it to him. He said he hated it, and I said, 'Welcome to my life.' "

The DriveCam has a display light that indicates when the driver has done something to activate the system; often, that was when she'd hit a pothole or speed bump in the Central Mall parking lot.

"It was really horrible, all those potholes," Frost said. "I was so frustrated, I was yelling at it, and I felt bad, because there's a person on the other end."

But besides the potholes, what often set off the system was her taking turns too fast.

"My friends made fun of me because I can't turn -- that I turn too sharp," she said. "That's what always got me was the curves."

Driving improves

Notice the past-tense "got."

"At first, she was getting really high-risk scores," said David Frost, Stephanie's father. "Now, it's dropped to zero."

Besides the video and driving coach comments on each individual incident, which parents can access via a password-protected Web page, the DriveCam service also compiles a weekly score for each driver, complete with a gauge showing green, yellow or red.

Scores are based on behaviors the driving coaches observe when the camera is activated, including the driver or passengers not wearing seat belts, texting or talking on a cellphone and dozens of other factors.

Early on, Stephanie was getting nearly twice as many points as needed to peg the gauge -- but, like her father said, she's now gone weeks without activating the camera or scoring a single point.

"When they do see something wrong, it's positive," David Frost said of the feedback. "It's 'You needed to have your seat belt on, not talking on your cell phone.'

"She, too, says she's learned a lot," David Frost said. "Of course, she's matured a lot, too."

It could be her life

The Frosts' insurance company, American Family Insurance, doesn't have access to any of the information DriveCam provides -- and so can't use it to increase rates -- which helped sell David Frost, of rural Assaria, on the system, he said.

"I think if (American Family) were watching, we'd probably have foolishly said 'No' " to the system, David Frost said. " 'Foolishly,' because it could be her life at stake, and that's worth more than the premium."

His son, Josiah, will be turning 16 this month and will be getting a DriveCam in his car, as well.

"I'm not looking forward to it," Josiah said. "I don't think about it much, but I don't like it."

"Sixteen is a difficult age to convince your kid that you still care -- and aren't just trying to spy on them," David Frost said. "At 16, I probably would have felt the same as my daughter -- I was way too cool to have a camera in my car ... I think she's forgiven me on this one, so we're OK."

The system doesn't cost

That improvement in driving skills Frost has seen is the point, say local American Family agents.

"I'm thinking of running a seminar to explain what it's for," said American Family agent Jeff Wells, of Salina. "It's not for Mom and Dad and American Family to keep an eye on you and raise your rates. It's about saving your life. It's a proven fact that if it's in there, the kids will drive better."

Agents talk to families about it when their young drivers get their licenses, said American Family agent Tim Newell.

Besides the fact that the insurance company doesn't monitor the system, Newell said, the other major selling point is that it's free to the family, with the company footing the more than $1,000 cost of the system, including installation and a one-year monitoring contract.

"The company's putting this out because it's the right thing to do," Newell said, noting that vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death among teenagers.

American Family's first trials with DriveCam were among students at two Wisconsin high schools in 2006; in early 2007, it was offered to customers throughout Wisconsin, Minnesota and Indiana. By the end of 2007, it was being offered in 18 Midwestern and Western states, including Kansas.

100 percent seat belt use

Throughout that trial period, Newell said, results have shown that teen drivers in the program reduce their risky behaviors by 70 percent or more, and that seat belt use increases to 100 percent.

"It's basically having mom or dad in the car," Newell said.

American Family agent Daran Neuschafer, Salina, however, likens it more to having a driver's ed teacher in the car.

"Everybody needs to go in to it with the right frame of mind," Neuschafer said. "If a young person thinks it's just another way for mom and dad to keep an eye on them, it's not going to work.

"Both the parents and the young driver should see it as a tool to improve driving skills," he said. "If it's a way to punish, you're not going to get the best results."

Still, all three agents say, the system is often a tough sell, not only to teenagers but to parents.

"I would say all of them are leery at first," Neuschafer said. "They don't understand how it works -- then it seems almost too good to be true. Sometimes, we don't hear from them again, but a few decide to do it."

Newell agreed that if the decision were left to teenagers, the system would seldom be installed -- but parents often agree to give their kids more driving privileges if DriveCam is there.

Wells has seen that, too.

"The kids were reluctant, but they've found that the strings are a little looser," Wells said. "The kids are seeing a little bit more freedom, and as the scores improve, the parents are relaxing."

Ford's new NannyKey

DriveCam isn't the only such system out there with a similar goal in mind; several GPS-based systems are available at retail to allow parents to track a car's location.

And starting with the 2010 model year, many Ford products will come standard with a feature called MyKey.

And even though the system's rollout is a ways off, it's already acquired the nickname "NannyKey," said Derek Lee, general manager at Long-McArthur, 3450 S. Ninth, which sells Fords, Lincolns and Mercurys.

The system provides the owner with one special key the car can tell is different from the others, Lee said. When that key is used, the car initiates a series of safety protocols, such as limiting the top speed to 80 mph.

Other features parents will be able to program into the car for their teen driver include the maximum volume on the car stereo and the ability to shut the stereo off completely if the seat belts aren't buckled.

Parents also will be able to customize the system to sound chimes -- intentionally annoying chimes -- when the car exceeds 45, 55, or 65 mph, depending on the parents' preference.

Lee said MyKey also disables the driver's ability to disable the car's traction-control system.

"The traction-control system can be turned off, but not with MyKey," Lee said. "If you have a Mustang, and want to go out and spin the tires, you won't be able to."

Ford's market research showed that -- surprise -- two-thirds of teenagers wouldn't want MyKey in their cars.

But the same research showed that if having MyKey installed would lead to increased driving privileges, only about a third still objected.

"I'm pretty sure my kid will have this," Lee said. "It's like having mom in the back seat. Everybody's concerned about their kids in vehicles -- remember how we drove when we were kids?"

Who can get access

The only information MyKey records is the number of miles driven while using the system.

American Family won't use the contents of video against you in determining rates -- and its claims adjusters don't use the information when probing wrecks, though in a few cases across the country, families have volunteered the video to the company to help prove what happened.

But that doesn't necessarily mean the video -- or other electronically gathered information -- can't be picked up by law enforcement, personal-injury attorneys or others.

And -- hold on, smug grown-ups -- your car may be spying on you, as well.

For several years, most new cars sold in the U.S. have included so-called "black boxes," also known as "event data recorders" in many models.

Such recorders, often activated by airbag deployment, can record information such as vehicle speed, steering, skidding, swerving, whether the brake pedal or gas pedal was being pressed and other similar information. Such information is used by the car companies to assess the performance of anti-lock brakes, traction-control systems and other safety devices.

That kind of information has been downloaded from vehicle computers as part of crash investigations "a handful of times" in the past year, said Salina Deputy Police Chief Carson Mansfield.

In Kansas, the black box data is considered the property of the car's owner, said Capt. Dan Meyer with the Kansas Highway Patrol office in Topeka.

"You own the car, you own the black box, you own the data," he said. "We can't just go in and take the data. If we did, it potentially couldn't be used in court."

You'd need a warrant

Unless the car's owner gives consent for law enforcement to download the information, officers must get a warrant or court order for it, Meyer said.

Generally, crash investigators can determine what they need to without that data, using the techniques they've used and refined for decades, Mansfield said. "You don't need to do it that often."

The typical case where a car's computer information is used would be a single-car wreck, where there were no witnesses and the driver was killed, he said.

As for other information, including video, "if it's available, and we need it, we'll get it," he said. "We will use that information if it's available. I think that's what the public expects."

Meyer, too, didn't see any reason why information from a video system would be treated differently than what's stored on the car's built-in data recorder.

Ken Muth, spokesman for American Family's corporate office in Wisconsin, said there has not been a single instance of law enforcement seeking the DriveCam information.

Muth added that even American Family's own claims adjusters can't get ahold of DriveCam's information. However, in a few cases, parents have volunteered to give it to the company and even shared it with the insurance company of the other driver.

Pat Neustrom, a Salina attorney whose practice includes auto accident and personal injury law, said it's not unusual for him to access black box information -- and doesn't see why video would be any different.

"There's nothing privileged about any of it," Neustrom said, adding it's just a matter of hiring someone with the expertise to download and interpret it.

And while Neustrom was unaware of the DriveCam system when called for this article, he said that in case of a lawsuit arising from a wreck, "I'm sure both sides would want to get that video."

The power of video

Still, Mansfield and Meyer said, they hope parents don't see those as reasons to not install systems such as DriveCam.

"I think any time you know you're on video, you're going to try harder to do the right thing," Mansfield said. "If they need that kind of feedback on their behavior, it's there. I don't see it as a conflict -- it keeps them from getting in trouble in the first place."

"From a parent's standpoint, I wouldn't let that deter me," Meyer said. "It can make my kid a better driver. I think the program has merit, and I support what they're doing. I wouldn't let that stop me from putting it in."

n Reporter Mike Strand can be reached at 822-1418 or by e-mail at mstrand@salina.com.

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