Teens driving can make most any parent a bit nervous, especially when they are not in the car to watch. Now, a Utah company has developed a technology that will allow parents keep a virtual eye on their kids while they are behind the wheel.
West Valley-based inthinc Inc. has created technology designed to improve driving safety of teen drivers as well as commercial fleet drivers, said Randy Holdaway, the company's product marketing manager.
"The device mentors the teen driver … while they're driving," he said. "For example, if you have a speeding violation, it will say, 'Speeding violation,' or if you have an aggressive driving event, it will tell you to correct your driving behavior."
The "tiwi" — which unofficially stands for "teen independent witness," according to Holdaway — is an onboard computer that instantly alerts and instructs young drivers on mistakes made behind the wheel while also notifying parents in real-time regarding their teen's current location, actions and driving safety.
He said a user-friendly, Web-based dashboard enables parents to fully customize settings on how and when they receive notifications, including the ability to establish instant alerts when their teen's car enters or leaves a specified zone such as a school or neighborhood through GPS technology. On newer vehicles, there is a seatbelt-use option as well, he added.
"You can set the speeding violations by speed limits," he said. "You can give them a grace of, say, five miles an hour over the speed limit if you want.
"You can also set notifications to come back to the parents. They can get it by text message, voicemail or e-mail," he added.
The system actually gives the teen driver a grade based on the number of violations and driving behavior.
Executive vice president Jeff Harvey said the safety system comes in a variety of applications, including the tiwi for teen monitoring, the tiwiPRO for light fleet vehicles and the waySmart for heavy industrial fleets. Each system has numerous customizable features that help assess risk in driving behavior.
Pricing for the systems begin at about $600 for the base model tiwi, with the more sophisticated commercial applications costing a bit more. Besides the initial cost, there is also a monthly charge for system monitoring, Harvey said.
Driving safety advocates say that monitoring systems such as tiwi can be very useful in helping to mitigate the number of behind-the-wheel incidents involving inexperienced young drivers.
"It heightens parents' awareness of this problem," Rolayne Fairclough, Utah AAA spokesperson said. While parents can't always be with their kids while they are driving, the technology in systems like tiwi allow them to play a more active role in helping their children become better drivers, she said.
Jeff Nigbur, spokesman for the Utah Highway Patrol, said these kinds of applications establish a keener sense of responsibility in teen drivers or anyone who is behind the wheel.
"It definitely does create some type of accountability, whether it is commercial, industrial or … when you're a teenage driver," he said. "With that (accountability), you might avoid some type of crash … a ticket, or avoid some type of contact with highway patrol or some other law enforcement agency."
He said that parents who decide to put such a device in their vehicles should explain to their teens the reasoning behind doing so.
"Teenagers don't have the experience that someone who's been driving for 30 years does," he said. "If you know you're being watched, you're definitely less likely to break the law."
E-MAIL: jlee@desnews.com