Black box for cars could put brakes on crashes

Every year, many young people aged between 16 and 20 are killed in car crashes in the United States. Carol Power reports.

Last year, there were 1.6 million crashes involving young drivers: 8,839 people were killed including 3,529 young drivers and 1,409 young passengers in vehicles with young drivers. In general, inexperienced teenagers are considered high-risk drivers.

In some states, a teenager can get a learner's permit at 15 and a driver's licence at 16. Two years ago, I sat my driver's test in New Jersey.

Even though I had owned a car in Ireland and drove it for many years, for insurance purposes I was considered a new driver and my premium went through the roof.

The test is computerised. There are 30 rules of the road questions of which 24 must be answered correctly to pass. Once I had passed, I took a road safety test in a closed parking lot beside the Department of Motor Vehicles office.

I found it a nerve-wracking experience and could only imagine what it was like for a teenager to go through the same motions.

Research has shown that teenagers display the same aggressiveness and assertive driving behaviour as emergency vehicle drivers.

Yet, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that teen drivers are more than twice as likely to be involved in vehicle crashes than adult drivers. Their high level of risk is due to a lack of driving experience. Excessive speed is most often a factor in teen vehicle crashes.

A California company has come up with a device that monitors a teenagers' behaviour while driving. Sixteen years ago, Road Safety International brought the "black box" from the aircraft cockpit to the highway. Since then, it has been used primarily by emergency vehicle drivers. However, this month the Road Safety Teen Driver system becomes available for national distribution at a retail price of $280 (€283).

The black box, which is similar to a flight data recorder used in commercial aircraft, can be installed in a car by plugging the Road Safety On-Board Computer System into the vehicle data link connector. The company says it can help reduce vehicle crashes by monitoring driver behaviour and giving immediate in-vehicle feedback if a teenager starts driving dangerously.

Called Safe Force, the black box monitors the teenager's driving on a second by second basis. If they drive too fast, it gives an audio warning to slow down.

If the driver ignores the warnings, the box will sound a steady loud tone that won't go away until the driver alters the behaviour the black box considers unsafe.

According to Road Safety International, the most frequent teen driver crash involves backing into another vehicle. The Safe Force system has a "spotter switch" in the vehicle that the driver has to depress to indicate that they have looked behind the vehicle and in the mirrors prior to backing. If they fail to depress the switch, an alarm sounds within the car and it is reported as an unsafe reverse on the driver scoring report that a teenager's parents can see at any time.The system also monitors seat belt use and sounds a continuous warning tone if one is not being worn.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, most passenger vehicle occupants killed in motor vehicle crashes were unrestrained. Failure to wear a seat belt is also reported in the driver scoring report.

To view how their son or daughter is driving, all a parent needs to do is pop the memory card out of the black box and plug it into the family computer. They can download all the information and read the reports and graphs.

Ms Denise Bibeau, a mother of a teenage son, said she thinks Safe Force is an interesting product. "As a mother, I would love it," she said. "Although, I'm sure my teenage son would not appreciate it." Her 14-year-old son, Ryan, disagreed. Although he's not yet driving, he said, he wouldn't mind having a black box in the car to record his every move.