Continuing our series on safe teen driving (see teen driving risk and safe driving book review), we offer some high tech (and low tech) tools to help your teen become a safer driver.
Low Tech Resource to support safe teen driving
Have you driver complete the Safe Driving Pledge. It’s a great way to open up discussion about what skills make for a safe driver and to clarify your expectations for your teen’s driving behavior. Cost: Free
High Tech Teen Driver Safety Hardware
DriverZed
DriverZed program from AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety is an interactive computer program that trains young drivers to identify and deal with both common and unusual traffic situations before they get on the road. Cost $24.95.
We know one youth who tried it really liked it. His family reports he did it once all the way through and made all sorts of mistakes. Then he did it again and did it perfectly. He was proud to have mastered it and talked about all the things he’d learned (and then had fun correcting his parents on their driving mistakes on one or two occasions!)
Drivecam
The Drivecam is a tool you install on the review mirror of your car. It records a video of your teen while they are behind the wheel. The Drivecam gives your teen a sense of accountability – even when you aren’t in the car with them. And when a driving error serious enough to trigger the recording (a sharp change in speed or direction) happens, the data are there for later evaluation and learning.
This program isn’t cheap. But it’s been proven to be so effective that customers of American Family insurance can get the service for free at www.teensafedriver.com. Cost: $899 for first year, $30/month after that. See website for complete package details.
GPS Tracker
You may also want to consider a GPS Tracker that tells you where the car is at any given time. http://www.rmtracking.com/teentracking.html
CarChip
A CarChip a small unit that plugs into your car’s on-board diagnostics and reads and stores driving and engine performance (available at many locations. You can read a review this product in the Washington Post.
What have you done to help your teen become a safer driver? We’d love to hear from you.